^  .•  k 


\': 


^ L 


/"■ 


gUARTER-CENTENNIAL 


%T  Congregational  Church 


CHICAGO, 


May    ^Ist    and    J^^^d,    lH7(i 


ri:^'^. 


DEC     lCo4 


Sermon  1>y  Rev.  E.  P.  Goonwix,  D."  D-f^AdHress  by  Rev.  W.  AV.  Pation, 

D.  D.;  Address  by  Hon.  W.  VV.  Farwkll  ;  Address  by  Rev.  .]. 

E.  Roy,  D.  D.;  A  Statistical  Statement  by  the  Clerk. 


CHICAGO :  V 

r.VER,  I'AGR,   HOYNK  &  CO.,   PRINTKRS. 
1876. 


2  68  91 


6X 


QUARTER-CENTENNIAL 


"^iRST  Congregational  Church 


CHICAGO,  First   Co^a^eda-^K 


CU.vc   ,,, 


May    31st    and    SSd,    1876. 


Sermon  by  Rev.  E.  P.  Goodwin,  D.  D.;  Address  by  Rev   W.  W.  Pattox, 

D.  D.;  Address  by  Hon.  W.  W.  Farwkll  ;  Address  by  Rev.  J. 

E.  Roy,  D.  D.;  A  Statistical  Statement  by  the  Clerk. 


CHICAGO: 


CULVER,  PAGE,   HOYNE  i  CO.,   PRINTERS, 
1876. 


/- 


NOTE. 

The  Quarter-Centennial  of  the  First  Congregational  Church  of  Chicago 
occurred  May  22,  1876.  The  Church  deemed  some  observance  of  the  occa- 
sion fitting  and  desirable,  and  placed  the  matter  in  the  hands  of  a  com- 
mittee, with  full  powers  to  arrange  for  the  memorial  services. 

Though  it  was  also  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  denomination  in 
this  city,  it  was  not  considered  best  to  unite  the  Churches  in  one  common 
observance,  and  the  exercises  were,  therefore,  simply  of  a  character  properly 
fitting  the  history  of  the  First  Church. 

The  exercises  were  mainly  on  Sabbath,  May  21st.  In  the  morning  the 
Pastor,  Rev.  Dr.  Goodwin,  preached  an  historical  sermon.  In  the  evening 
addresses  were  made  by  Rev.  Dr.  Patton,  Rev.  Dr.  Roy  and  Hon.  W.  W. 
Farwell,  and  a  brief  statistical  statement  was  made  by  J.  W.  Sykes,  the 
Clerk  of  the  Church. 

The  sermon,  the  addresses  and  the  statement  are  printed  herewith. 

On  Monday  evening.  May  22d,  the  ladies  gave  a  sociable  in  the  parlors 
of  the  Church,  which  closed  the  memorial  observance.  The  occasion  was  of 
great  interest,  and  the  presence  of  old  and  former  members  of  the  Church 
was  a  pleasant  feature. 


s^ 


2  68  91 


SERMON 

PKEACHEK    ON    THE 

QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE  FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH 

OF  CHICAGO, 

By  rev.  E.  p.  GOODWIN,  D.  D.,  Pastor. 


We  have  thought  of  Thy  loving  kindness.  0  God,  in  the  midst  of  Thy 
temple. 

According  to  Thy  name.  0  God,  so  is  Thy  praise  unto  the  ends  of  the 
earth  ;  Thy  right  hand  is  full  of  righteousness. 

Let  Mount  Zion  rejoice,  let  the  daughters  of  Judah  be  glad,  because  of 
Thy  judgments. 

Walk  about  Zion.  and  go  round  about  her  :  tell  the  towers  thereof. 

Mark  ye  well  her  bulwarks,  consider  her  palaces ;  that  ye  may  tell  it  to 
the  generation  following. 

For  this  God  is  our  God  for  ever  and  ever :  He  will  be  our  guide  even 
unto  death.— Psalm  xlviii,  9-14. 

God's  people  have  a  story  to  tell,  and  a  story  worth  the 
hearing  of  the  generation  following.  And  what  makes  it  so  is 
their  experience  of  God's  loving-kindness:  on  the  one  hand 
divine  and  loving  guardianship  from  evil,  God"s  right  arm 
between  them  and  all  their  foes  ;  on  the  other,  steady  and 
rich  bestowals  out  of  which,  whether  as  individuals  or  as 
Christians,  they  compact  growth,  strength,  fruitfulnese.  And 
the  longer  the  experience  the  grander  the  story,  and  the  more 
worth  the  telling  and  the  hearing. 

This  is  why  we  keep  jubilee  to-day.  To-morrow  will  be 
the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  organization  of  this  Church. 


6  QUARTER-CEXTENNIAL  OF  THE 

Looking  back  through  these  years,  we  feel  profoun(ily  that 
Ave  have  had  large  and  precious  experience  of  God's  loving 
kindness — that  "  the  Lord  hath  done  great  things  for  us, 
whereof  we  are  glad."  And  we  are  minded  to  tell  the  story, 
because  we  believe  it  will  help  those  that  come  after  us  to  more 
lovingly  trust  God,  and  more  joyfully  and  fruitfully  render 
Him  service  and  honor. 

Some  churches  are  said  to  glorify  God  in  their  death. 
AVe  believe  this  one  has  glorified  Him  from  the  beginning,  and 
will  continue  to  do  so  by  its  life.  It  had  the  best  of  rights  to 
be  ;  for,  in  the  truest  sense,  it  was  born  not  of  the  will  of  the 
flesh,  nor  of  the  Avill  of  man,  but  of  God. 

A  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  it  is  safe  to  say,  there  was  no 
burden  resting  more  heavily  upon  the  hearts  of  Christian  peo- 
ple in  this  country  than  that  of  American  slavery.  And  what 
specially  aggravated  the  matter  was  the  painful  fact,  that  even 
Christian  people  were  conscientiously  at  variance  as  to  what 
should  be  done.  They  were  agreed — thoroughly  so — through- 
out the  entire  North,  that  the  buying  and  selling  of  human 
chattels,  and  the  holding  them  in  bondage  was  at  war  with 
the  plain  teachings  of  the  word  of  God,  was  irreconcilable 
with  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  But  with  slaveholders  by  the 
thousand  in  certain  •  branches  of  the  Church,  and  controlling 
the  religious  sentiment  of  half  the  land,  how  to  get  the  skirts 
of  the  Church  clear  of  the  sin  was  the  puzzling  problem. 

For  the  most  part  Northern  Christians,  especially  Congre- 
gational Christians,  saw  no  difiiculty  in  the  case.  They  said, 
'' There  can  be  no  compact  between  light  and  darkness,  be- 
tween Christ  and  Belial."  The  true  solution  is,  "  Come  out 
from  among  them,  and  be  ye  separate,"  and  "  Have  no  fellow- 
ship with  the  unfruitful  works  of  dai-kness."  And  that  is 
what  the  Congregational  churches  did,  what  they  had  always 
done.  For  when  the  war  of  the  rebellion  broke  out,  there 
was  not,  if  I  remember  rightly,  a  single  Congregational  church 
south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  Naturally  enouij;h,  there- 
fore, by  virtue  alike  of  the  blood  and  the   Gospel  that  was  in 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  7 

'them,  the  multitudes  of  Congregationalists  scattered  through 
the  New  School  Pres})yteriau  Churches  of  the  North — and 
there  were  thousands  that,  under  the  old  plan  of  union,  were 
beguiled  into  selling  their  Congregational  birthright  for  a  mess 
of  pottage,  and  never  got  it  back  again — these  were  urgent  for 
the  General  Assembly  to  take  positive  ground  against  the  sin 
of  slavery.  They  pressed  not  only  for  the  emphatic  denuncia- 
tion of  the  institution  as  a  crime  against  God  and  man, 'but 
for  such  action  as  should  disfellowship  all  who  held  slaves,  or 
were  in  any  wise  concerned  in  the  traffic.  There  was  much 
and  vigorous  discussion  of  the  subject.  Hence  it  came  to  be 
expected  that  the  General  Assembly,  to  be  held  in  Detroit,  in 
1850,  would  give  a  deliverance  that  would  be  explicit  and 
satisfactory.  Its  utterance  was,  however,  so  delphic  as  to 
occasion  wide-spread  disappointment.  And,  in  view  of  it, 
forty-two  out  of  sixty-eight  resident  members  of  the  Third 
Presbyterian  Church  of  this  city,  at  a  church  meeting  held 
February  3,  1851,  imitated  the  Presbytery  of  Rochester,  N. 
Y.,  and  voted  that  until  the  policy  of  the  Assembly  should  be 
distinctly  changed,  they  would  stand  aloof  from  all  meetings 
of  Presbytery,  Synod  or  Assembly,  and  thus  free  themselves 
from  all  responsibility  in  the  matter.  This  was  un-Presby- 
terian  and  irregular,  according  to  the  standards.  But  these 
protesters  followed  conscience,  not  "the  book;"  and  being- 
most  of  them  old  time  Congregationalists,  they  did  as  their 
fathers  were  wont  to  do.  They  set  the  local  church  above 
every  other  ecclesiastical  organization,  and  refused  to  be  forced 
into  complicity  with  sin. 

The  Presbytery  of  Chicago  pronounced  this  action  contu- 
macious, and  required  the  Church  to  rescind  its  vote.  The 
Church  refused  to  obey  the  mandate,  whereupon  the  Presby- 
tery, also  forgetting  "  the  book,"  without  trial  of  the  Church, 
as  a  body,  and  without  directing  the  session  to  try  the  obnox- 
ious voters  individually,  summarily  declared  these  persons  cut 
off  from  the  church  by  their  own  action,  and  directed  the  un- 
exscinded  Elders  of  the  Session  to  erase  their  names  from  the 


8  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

church  roll.  The  members  who  were  not  present  when  the 
offensive  resolution  was  voted,  but  who  subsequently  approved 
of  it  with  their  signatures,  were,  curiously  enough,  not  disci- 
plined, and  were  ultimately  granted  regular  letters  of  dismis- 
sion to  unite  with  the  church  organized  by  the  exscinded  mem- 
bers !  Evidently,  Congregationalism  does  not  monopolize  all 
the  curiosities  in  the  way  of  disciplinary  procedure  !  Even 
the  most  perfect  system  of  judicatories  may  miss  the  mind  of 
the  spirit  and  judge  after  the  flesh.  There  are,  alas  I  so  few 
pots  of  denominational  ointment  that,  some  time  or  other,  do 
not  have  their  fly  ! 

The  exscinded  forty-eight  do  not  seem  to  have  been  greatly 
taken  by  surprise  ;  for  when,  during  the  session  of  the  Pres- 
bytery, which  was  held  in  the  Third  Church,  the  refusal  of 
the  Church  to  rescind  its  obnoxious  vote  was  announced,  and 
the  Moderator,  Dr.  R.  W.  Patterson,  declared  Mr.  Philo  Car- 
penter no  longer  a  member  of  that  body,  Mr.  Carpenter 
arose  and  quietly  gave  notice  that  regular  religious  services 
would  be  held  on  the  following  Sabbath  in  the  lecture  room  of 
the  church  at  the  usual  hour  ! 

It  appears  that  after  the  church  building  was  erected,  Mr. 
Carpenter  built,  at  his  own  expense,  what  mechanics  style 
a  "  lean  to,"  as  a  place  for  holding  prayer,  or  committee  or 
sessional  meetings.  This  addition  was  private  property,  and,  as 
such,  by  agreement  at  the  time,  subject  to  Mr.  Carpenter's  con- 
trol until  purchased  by  the  Church.  When  the  exscinding  axe 
fell,  the  structure  was  still  unpaid  for ;  hence  the  announce- 
ment noticed.  Hence,  also,  the  significant  fact  that,  until  a 
place  of  worship  was  provided  by  the  erection  of  a  chapel,  reg- 
ular Sabbath  services  were  continued  in  the  same  place,  and  at 
the  same  hour,  with  the  worship  in  the  church  building  proper. 
Whenever  a  supply  could  be  obtained,  a  sermon  was  regularly 
preached.  At  other  times,  the  brethren,  by  turn,  read  the 
Scriptures  and  selections  from  the  discourses  of  Dr.  Dwight 
or  Dr.  Payson  ;  and  the  congregation,  it  is  pleasant  to  know, 
never  fell  away  !     Whether  the  prayers  and  hymns  and  preach- 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  9 

merits  of  the  two  bands  of  worshipers,  with  only  a  thin  wooden 
wall  between  them,  ever  clashed,  does  not  appear.  But  it  is 
evident  that,  while  truth  does  not  go  by  majorities,  whenever 
there  came  a  question  of  amens  and  doxologies,  the  outsiders 
had  the  best  of  it  in  the  ratio  of  forty-tw^o  to  twenty-six  ;  and 
some  youthful  church-goer  of  an  inquiring  turn  is  said  to  have 
reported  that,  by  actual  count — through  a  window — the  "  reg- 
ulars" were  sometimes  not  more  than  fifteen,  while  the  "irreg- 
ulars" numbered  sixty  or  seventy.  This  was  in  April, 
1851.  The  building,  then  occupied  as  the  Third  Presbyterian 
Church,  was  a  very  unpretentious  wooden  edifice,  situated  on 
the  west  side  of  Union  street,  about  half  way  between  Wash- 
ington and  Randolph  streets.  I  am  told  that  the  structure, 
converted  into  a  dwelling  house,  or  houses,  is  still  standing. 

Steps  were  immediately  taken  for  the  organization  of  a  new 
church,  as  also  for  the  erection  of  a  chapel.  And  at  the  sec- 
ond meeting  of  the  persons  exscinded,  a  "  Committee  of  Con- 
trol," consisting  of  six,  with  Philo  Carpenter  as  Chairman,  was 
appointed.  Their  duty  was  to  arrange  for  Sabbath  services 
and  evening  prayer  meetings,  and  to  have  general  oversight  of 
the  interests  of  the  body. 

At  the  next  meeting,  apparently  about  the  middle  of  April, 
it  was  voted  to  proceed  at  once  to  the  organization  of  a  church, 
to  be  called  the  "First  Congregational  Church  of  Chicago," 
and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  a  constitution  and 
articles  of  faith  as  a  basis  for  such  organization.  The  Com- 
mittee of  Control  was  also  requested  to  confer  with  members 
of  the  Third  Church  in  regard  to  an  equitable  division  of  the 
property  owned  in  common  prior  to  the  excision.  This  com- 
mittee, it  may  be  stated  here,  reported  subsequently  that  they 
had  held  such  conference,  and  that  all  attempts  to  secure  such 
division  had  failed. 

The  committee  on  constitution  and  articles  of  faith  reported 
after  public  worship  May  4,  and  their  report  was  adopted 
with  but  one  dissenting  vote,  that  of  a  brother  entered  on  the 
records  as  "  Bro.  Smith,"  who  was  "not  prepared  to  go  into 


10  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

such  an  organization  as  the  one  proposed."  The  constitution 
was  not  a  formal  one,  but  affirmed  simply  that  the  government 
of  the  church  should  be  in  accordance  with  Congregational 
usage,  and  subject  to  such  rules  and  by-laws  as  should  be 
adopted  at  any  meeting  regularly  convened.  The  articles  of 
faith,  compiled,  probably,  from  different  manuals  in  the  hands 
of  the  committee,  it  is  worthy  of  note,  were,  with  the  exception 
of  a  single  brief  phrase,  and  that  merely  transferred  from  one 
article  to  another,  precisely  the  same  as  those  now  in  our 
church  manual ;  while  the  covenant  and  the  form  used  in  the 
reception  of  members  remain  word  for  word  as  they  were  in 
the  beginning. 

May  5,  1851,  steps  were  taken  toward  the  purchase  of  a 
lot  owned  by  John  Harris,  and  located  on  the  southwest  cor- 
ner of  Washington  and  Jefferson  streets.  And  the  committee 
reporting  upon  the  matter  at  that  time — Philo  Carpenter, 
Chairman — were  authorized  to  conclude  a  purchase  and  secure 
the  lot.  At  the  same  meeting.  May  22  was  fixed  upon  as  the 
date  for  the  organization  of  the  Church.  Accordingly  an  Ec- 
clesiastical Council,  duly  called  by  letters  missive,  convened  on 
that  date  in  the  house  of  worship  of  the  Canal  Street  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  now  the  Centenary  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  on  Monroe  street  near  Morgan.  The  building  stood, 
I  am  told,  just  south  of  Randolph  street,  and  gives  significant 
indication  of  where  the  bulk  of  the  population  of  that  day  was 
located.  It  may  be.  of  interest  to  note  the  composition  of  the 
Council.  The  roll  was  as  follows:  The  Congregational 
Church  at  Milburn,  Rev.  William  B.  Dodge,  Pastor ;  Wauke- 
gan,  Rev.  B.  F.  Parsons,  Pastor;  Elgin,  Rev.  N.  B.  Clark, 
Pastor;  Downer's  Grove,  Rev.  Alanson  Alvord,  Pastor;  New- 
ark, Rev.  Lucien  Farnham,  Pastor;  Aurora,  Rev.  Daniel  Mil- 
ler, Pastor;   St.  Charles,  Alonzo  Harvey,  Delegate. 

These  were  supposably  men  whose  trumpets  gave  no  uncer- 
tain sound  upon  the  matters  in  issue.  Doubtless  they  came, 
taking  their  lives  in  their  hands,  as  become  anti-slavery  men 
on  such  an  errand  in  those  days,  and  not  forgetting  their  trum- 


FIRST  CONrxREdATIOxNAL  CHURCH.  11 

pets  I  And  it  may  be  safely  aflfirmed,  if  I  may  judge  the  rest 
of  the  Council  from  good  brother  Farnham — now  gone  to  his 
rest,  the  only  one  known  to  me — that  before  the  Council  closed 
there  were  quite  a  number  of  new  "  Amen  Corners  "  established 
in  the  church  building. 

The  facts  as  to  the  anti-slavery  feelings  of  that  day  are  of 
great  interest.  It  was  hoped  that  Deacon  Carpenter  would  be 
able  to  prepare  a  sketch  to  be  read  at  this  anniversary,  giving 
some  account  of  the  spirit  and  efforts  of  the  leading  actors  in 
that  struggle  of  freedom  against  oppression,  with  which  this 
Church  was  so  identified.  But  his  health  has  been  too  feeble  to 
allow  of  such  an  undertaking,  or  of  his  presence  at  this  jubilee. 

But  as  a  part  of  tliis  history,  a  passing  word  ought  to  be 
spoken  on  this  matter.  The  odious  fugitive  slave  law  .was  then 
in  full  operation.  And  of  consequence,  nearly  all  Northern 
Abolitionists,  preeminently  those  of  a  Congregational  type, 
were  enlisted,  heart  and  soul,  old  and  young,  in  the  service  of 
the  underground  railroad.  Mr.  Carpenter  was  one  of  the 
chief  superintendents  of  the  line,  and  his  house  and  store 
fiimous  and  favorite  termini.  Once  under  his  watch,  no  Dred 
Scott  decision  inspired  fear.  No  reward  bulletins  on  the 
street  corners  for  the  capture  of  "•  my  man  Pompey  with  a  scar 
on  his  cheek,"  or  "my  woman  Sally  and  two  children  almost 
white,"  ever  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  pilgrims.  His  story  of 
these  exciting  times  is  wonderfully  stirring.  Sometimes  a  con- 
signment came  into  his  yard  in  the  shape  of  a  load  of  corn- 
stalks or  hay,  with  a  layer  of  black  feces  and  woolly  heads 
underneath.  Sometimes  there  were  sacks  of  grain  for  the  ware- 
house with  a  specimen  or  two  of  migrating  chattels  deftly  hid- 
den under  the  seat.  Mr.  Carpenter  had  an  understanding  with 
the  captains  of  the  propellers,  who  brought  goods  for  him  from 
Buffalo,  by  virtue  of  which  he  was  suffered  to  run  his  travelers 
on  board,  without  the  officers"  knowledge,  just  before  the  plank 
was  drawn  in.  Of  course  they  were  not  discovered  until  the 
steamer  was  well  on  her  way,  and  return  to  rectify  the  mistake 
was  impossible ! 


12  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

On  one  occasion,  two  women,  one  of  them  the  mother  of 
two  children,  reached  his  house,  and  simultaneously  posters 
were  placarded  on  the  streets  minutely  describing  them,  and 
offering  a  reward  for  their  apprehension.  Mr.  Carpenter  had 
at  the  time  two  or  three  stacks  of  hay  standing  close  together, 
enclosed  by  a  fence,  on  Lake  street  north  of  his  residence,  be- 
tween Morgan  and  Carpenter  streets,  now  occupied  by  Rev. 
E.  Hildreth.  He  contrived,  with  the  aid  of  his  Irishman,  who 
joined  heartily  in  the  enterprise,  to  cut  a  hole  into  one  of  these 
stacks  large  enough  to  conceal  these  women  and  the  children. 
And  he  kept  them  there  until  an  opportunity  offered  to  trans- 
fer them  to  a  cabin  in  some  woodland  north  of  the  city  owned 
by  him,  and  thence  they  caught  sight  of  the  pole  star  and 
found  the  way  to  Canada.  It  is  not  difficult  to  understand 
how  people  of  this  stamp  came  to  have  positive  convictions 
on  the  subject  of  slavery  and  of  the  duties  of  the  Church 
respecting  it. 

There  are  no  records  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Council 
other  than  this  brief  entry,  that  "after  examination  of 
papers,  documents  and  the  articles  of  faith,  the  following  per- 
sons were  constituted  and  recognized  as  the  First  Congrega- 
tional Church."  Then  follows  a  list  of  forty-eight  persons, 
the  first  one  being,  as  might  be  expected,  the  Boanerges  of  the 
enterprise,  Philo  Carpenter,  and  the  next  that  of  his  vrife, 
Mrs.  Ann  Carpenter. 

Of  these  forty-eight  original  members,  ten  still  remain  con- 
nected with  the  church,  viz. :  Deacon  Philo  Carpenter,  Walter 
Lull,  Mrs.  Sarah  Lull,  Dr.  L.  H.  Holbrook,  Mrs.  Susan  Hol- 
brook,  Carlile  Mason,  Mrs.  Jane  Mason,  Joseph  F.  Lawrence, 
Mrs.  Susan  Lawrence,  Mrs.  Cornelia  A.  Clark  ;  and  of  those 
uniting  at  the  next  communion  in  July,  Mrs.  Mary  A.  R. 
Cromby  and  Mrs.  Lavinia  Morris  are  still  members. 

The  first  Deacons  were  elected  June  4,  1851,  and  were 
Elisha  Clark  and  Philo  Carpenter.  At  the  same  time,  Walter 
Lull  and  Philo  Carpenter  were  made  a  committee  to  obtain 
subscriptions  to  defray  expenses  for  the  current  year,  and  also 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  13 

to  procure  "subscriptions  to  stock  for  a  temporary  meeting 
house."  That  Committee  reported,  July  21,  that  ^500  per 
annum  had  been  pledged  ;  -whereupon  the  subscription  paper 
was  referred  back  to  them,  and  the  Committee  requested  to 
present  the  paper  to  all  members  of  the  congregation  -who  had 
not  seen  it,  aiul  also  to  urge  those  -who  had  signed  it  to  increase 
their  subscriptions  in  every  case  to  at  least  "two  shillings 
per  week."  So  early  in  the  plans  of  the  Church  did  syste- 
matic beneficence  come  in.  Let  us  hope  it  came  to  stay,  and 
with  increasing  results  to  attest  itself  evermore  in  our  history 
one  of  the  soundest  principles  of  gospel  finance. 

So  far  as  I  can  learn,  there  was  no  one  stated  supply  of 
the  pulpit  through  these  first  months.  Among  the  occasional 
supplies,  there  appear  the  names  of  Rev.  Jonathan  Blanchard, 
Rev.  Julian  M.  Sturtevant,  Rev.  J.  E.  Roy,  Rev.  Epaphras 
Goodman,  Rev.  Owen  Lovejoy.  Such  names  are  suggestive. 
The  new  Church  was  clearly  no  foundlings'  hospital,  Avith  two 
or  three  scores  of  theological  or  political  babies  to  be  nursed 
into  ability  to  go  alone.  Speaking  anti-slavery  wise,  there 
were  giants  in  those  days,  and  it  took  strong  meat  and  plenty 
of  it,  to  satisfy  a  church  profoundly  believing  slavery  to  be 
the  sum  of  all  villainies.  But  with  such  supplies  the  Church 
never  went  hungry  ! 

The  first  call  to  the  pastorate  was  given  October  13,  1851, 
to  Rev.  J.  M.  Davis,  and  $800  named  as  the  salary.  Mr. 
Davis  had  visited  the  church  and  supplied  the  pulpit  for  a 
brief  period.  He,  however,  declined  the  call  in  December  of  the 
same  year.  Rev.  Owen  Lovejoy  was  then  unanimously  invited 
to  the  pastorate.  The  records  show  no  response  to  this  call, 
but  it  proved  ineffectual,  and  June  1,  1852,  Rev.  J.  M. 
Williams  was  invited  to  become  supply  for  six  months.  Mr. 
Williams  accepted  the  invitation,  and  at  the  close  of  his  en- 
gagement, was  invited  and  consented  to  continue  his  services 
indefinitely,  either  party  to  be  privileged  to  terminate  the 
relation  by  giving  three  months'  notice.  The  salary  was 
probably  $800,  the  sum  named  in  the  calls  previously  given. 


14  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

There  is  no  record  of  the  completion  and  dedication  of  the 
first  house  of  worship  erected  by  the  Church,  but  it  appears 
that  pending  negotiations  for  the  })urchase  of  the  lot  to  which 
allusion  has  been  made,  on  the  corner  of  Washington  and 
Jefferson  streets,  a  very  plain  and  cheap  structure,  possibly 
40x60  feet  in  size,  was  built  on  ground  controlled  by  Deacon 
Carpenter,  on  Washington  street,  neor  Union,  just  east  of 
where  Judge  W.  W.  Farwell  now  resides.  This  building  was 
destroyed  by  fire  in  June,  1853,  and  before  it  had  stood  a  year, 
Rev.  J.  E.  Roy  preaching  the  last  sermon  therein. 

In  this  hour  of  their  calamity,  as  on  a  similar  occasion  at 
a  later  date,  the  brethren  found  quick  and  hearty  sympathizers. 
Two  houses  of  worship  were  proffered  them ;  one,  it  is  gratify- 
ing to  know,  as  showing  how  rapidly  the  aiiimosities  of  the 
earlier  day  passed  into  the  oblivion  that  should  be  the  common 
and  speedy  grave  of  all  differences  among  Christian  people — 
one  came  from  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church.  The  other 
came  from  the  Baptist  Tabernacle  Church,  located  on  Des- 
plaines  street,  between  Randolph  and  Washington,  and  was 
accepted.  The  fact  is  noteworthy ;  for  this  Church,  becoming 
subsequently  the  Second  Baptist  Church,  is  the  very  Church 
in  whose  commodious  house,  on  the  corner  of  Monroe  and 
Morgan  streets,  we  found  such  generous  and  affectionate  wel- 
come, when,  twenty  years  after  its  first  misfortune,  this  Church 
was  a  second  time  rendered  houseless  by  fire.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  after  this  that  our  Baptist  brethren  have  a  most 
kindly  leaning  toward  us  ;  are  even  willing  to  take  us  into 
closest  fellowship,  though  we  be  dry  as  the  cinders  that  rattled 
off  our  hats  the  night  of  the  conflagration.  And  having  been 
twice  put  under  such  bonds  of  obligation  to  these  dear  brethren, 
I  am  sure  we  must  all  stand  ready  to  admit  the  whole  river 
Jordan  into  our  creed,  and  the  largest  style  of  baptistry 
into  our  next  house  of  worship  ! 

The  burning  of  the  chapel  caused  a  change  in  the  plans  of 
the  Church.  A  westward  drift  of  population  had  set  in,  and 
the  result  was,  that  the  lot  on  which  it  had  been  proposed  to 


FIRST  CONGKEGATIONAL  CHURCH.  16 

build  was  exchanged  with  Deacon  Carpenter  for  one  on  the 
southwest  corner  of  Green  and  Washington  streets.  This  lot 
was  one  hundred  feet  square  and  was  valued  at  $6,000.  The 
lot  transferred  paid  $4,000  of  this  sum  ;  the  balance  of  $2,000 
was  arranged  to  lie  as  a  funded  tlebt  for  ten  years,  at  six  per 
cent.  A  building  committee,  consisting  of  Philo  Carpenter, 
Walter  Lull  and  T.  M.  Avery,  was  appointed  to  report  plans 
and  estimates  for  the  erection  of  a  substantial  building. 
Meanwhile  a  cheap  wooden  structure  was  built  on  Green  street, 
just  south  of  where  the  new  edifice  was  to  be,  and  services 
were  held  there  until  the  stone  church  was  ready  for  dedica- 
tion. This  chapel  is  still  standing,  and,  as  I  observed  the 
other  day,  is  headquarters  for  quite  a  colony  of  colored  people 
and  also  for  calsomining.  So  it  is  still  true  to  its  anti-slavery 
traditions,  and  still  insists  on  having  things  pure. 

Rev.  J.  M.  Williams  tendered  his  resignation  as  acting 
Pastor,  December  1,  1853,  and  January  2,  1854,  Rev.  W.  A. 
Nichols  was  invited  to  supply  the  pulpit  for  six  months.  At 
the  close  of  this  period,  Rev.  G.  W.  Perkins,  of  Meriden, 
Conn.,  was  unanimously  invited  to  become  Pastor  of  the 
Church  at  a  salary  of  $1,500.  Mr.  Perkins  accepted  the 
call,  began  his  labors  on  the  third  Sabbath  of  September  fol- 
lowing, and  on  January  4,  1855,  was  installed  Pastor.  By  a 
strange  oversight,  there  is  no  entry  in  the  records  of  the 
Church  respecting  either  the  composition  of  this  Council  or 
its  action. 

This  closes  what  may  be  termed  the  first  epoch  of  the 
history  of  the  Church.  There  may  be  said  of  it,  in  brief,  that 
it  was  a  period  not  unworthy  to  be  named  with  that  of  the 
first  of  all  Congregational  Churches.  It  was  marked  by  the 
spirit  of  Pentecost.  There  was  most  perfect  accord  of  thought 
and  feeling,  great  steadfastness  in  doctrine,  great  joy  in  fel- 
lowship, great  zeal  in  service  for  Christ.  And  I  judge  from  the 
few  hints  afforded  by  the  records,  that,  while  the  members  of 
the  little  Church  praised  God  in  worship  and  in  work,  they 
had  increasing  favor  with  the  people.      One  hundred  members 


16  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

were  received  between  the  date  of  organization  and  the  installa- 
tion of  Mr.  Perkins,  and  the  fjict  that  of  that  number  twenty- 
six  united  by  profession,  indicates  clearly  that  the  thought  of 
the  people  was  fixed,  not  upon  the  matter  of  their  growth,  but 
on  that  higher  and  only  true  aim  of  every  church — the  ad- 
vancement of  the  Kingdom  of  God  by  the  salvation  of  souls. 

I  find  only  one  record  respecting  the  benevolence  of  the 
Church  during  this  period,  and  that  is  a  statement  incidentally 
made,  that  ^2,500  had  been  raised  by  a  committee,  apart  from 
moneys  needed  for  current  expenses.  And  this  was  by  vote 
apportioned  among  various  benevolent  objects.  The  character 
of  the  membership  is  ample  guaranty  that  the  givings  of  this 
early  day  were  both  systematic  and  generous.  Indeed,  I  sus- 
pect that  if  we  knew  the  facts,  we  might  have  occasion  to  blush 
at  our  failure  to  come  up  to  the  standard  of  our  large-hearted 
ancestry. 

The  next  epoch  of  our  history  may  be  considered  as  ex- 
tending from  the  installation  of  Rev.  (t.  W.  Perkins,  January 
4,  1855,  to  the  installation  of  Rev.  W.  W.  Patton,  January  8, 
1857,  a  period  of  two  years. 

The  first  work  of  Mr.  Perkins  shows  itself  in  the  revision 
of  the  Constitution  and  rules  of  the  Church.  As  the  organiza- 
tion grew  there  was  need  of  correspondent  growth  in 
methods  of  administration.  Great  principles  of  church  gov- 
ernment, like  those  of  civil  law,  need  to  be  expounded  and 
their  just  applications  to  particular  cases  laid  down.  This  was 
Avhat  Mr.  Perkins  set  himself  to  do.  As  the  result,  general 
doctrines  of  usage  were  reduced  to  specific  rules  relating  to 
the  admission  of  members,  the  administration  of  discipline,  the 
election  of  officers  and  the  general  management  of  the  interests 
of  the  Church.  Tliere  was,  as  yet,  no  society  organization  dis- 
tinct from  that  of  the  Church.  Church  members  and  non- 
churcli  members  holding  pews,  were  alike  entitled  to  vote  on 
all  matters  pertaining  to  the  pecuniary  aifairs  of  the  body,  and 
also  the  election  and  dismission  of  the  Pastor.  But  upon  mat- 
ters affecting  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  Church,  such  as  the 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  17 

reception  and  dismission  of  members,  the  election  of  Deacons, 
the  alteration  of  the  articles  of  faith,  only  church  members 
above  eighteen  years  of  age  were  allowed  to  vote. 

March  5,  1855,  John  Sheriffs,  whose  name  is  attached  to 
every  record,  thus  far,  from  the  beginning,  ceased  to  be  Clerk, 
and  Rev.  G.  AV.  Perkins  took  his  place. 

The  new  church  was  now^  approaching  completion.  Ac- 
cordingly, it  was  voted,  September  18,  1855,  that  the  pews 
should  be  sold,  deeds  of  ownership  being  given  to  purchasers, 
and  that  each  subscriber  to  the  building  fund  should  receive 
the  amount  of  his  subsci'iption  in  pews,  said  pews  to  be  sub- 
ject to  an  annual  tax  in  Ijehalf  of  the  current  expenses  of  the 
church,  not  to  exceed  ten  per  cent,  of  the  valuation.  The 
amount  of  total  assessment  on  the  pews,  it  had  been  agreed 
beforehand,  should  not  be  less  than  ^30,000. 

The  date  of  dedication  of  the  new  house  is  not  recorded. 
It  was  probably  some  time  in  October,  1855.  Some  of  you, 
doubtless,  well  remember  the  occasion.  It  must  have  been  one 
of  peculiar  and  joyful  thanksgiving.  Turned  out  of  house 
once  ;  burned  out  once;  not  a  little  jeered  at  as  the  "'nigger 
church ;"  compelled  to  steady  sacrifices ;  meeting  here  and  there, 
and  having  at  best  only  chapels  that  were  inconvenient  and 
unattractive;  this  dedication  day  must  have  been  much  like  a 
good  ship's  casting  anchor  in  a  peaceful  harbor  after  long  l)uf- 
feting  with  storms.  The  edifice  then  consecrated  Avas,  as  it 
still  remains  to  witness,  a  structure  for  the  times  of  unusual 
substantialness  and  comfort.  Compared  with  its  predecessors, 
it  might  even  be  called  elegant.  Entering  it  on  this  occasion 
with  the  first  settled  Pastor  ;  with  the  atmosphere  of  the  young- 
city  growing  hot  with  the  fever  of  speculation  and  business 
enterprise,  and  hence  a  steady  tide  of  prosperity  setting  in ; 
with  a  foremost  position  already  assured  among  the  churches 
of  its  order  in  the  region,  and  every  year  certain  to  magnify 
it ;  with  all  things,  in  short,  full  of  promise  for  the  future,  it 
would  have  been  strange  if  the  Church  did  not  keep  high 
jubilee.     And  I  imagine  that  as  some  of  you  here  present  re- 


18  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

call  that  day,  you  remember  how  you,  and  the  dear  brethren 
and  sisters  of  that  blessed  fellowship,  walked  about  your  new 
Zion,  told  her  towers,  marked  her  bulwarks,  and  then  lifted 
up  your  voices  Avith  a  tearful  joy  as  you  said:  "The  Lord 
hath  done  great  things  for  us,  whereof  we  are  glad."  I  con- 
fess it  moistens  my  eyes  and  makes  my  blood  tingle,  even  at 
this  day,  to  picture  the  scene. 

But  one  fact  connected  with  this  transition  strikes  me  as 
suggestive.  You  will  pardon,  I  trust,  the  reminiscence  and 
accept  the  application.  The  original  estimates  of  the  build- 
ing committee  and  the  plans  they  proposed,  which  were 
adopted,  put  the  probable  cost  of  the  house  at  -^15,000.  It  is 
quite  likely  that  there  was  a  subsequent  reconsideration  of  the 
matter  and  that  a  modification  of  plans,  involving  a  larger  ex- 
penditure, was  agreed  on.  If  so,  no  record  of  the  fact  appears. 
However  that  may  be,  when  Mr.  Perkins  makes  his  first  report 
after  the  dedication  of  the  church,  he  states  the  cost  to  have 
been  |40,000.  And  in  January,  1856,  the  records  show  that 
there  was  a  church  debt  of  $16,000. 

Those  were  days  when,  it  is  fair  to  suppose,  economy  in 
church  building,  especially  among  young  churches,  was  care- 
fully studied  and  faithfully  applied.  No  doubt  our  predecess- 
ors builded  as  cheaply  as  they  could,  or  as  was  wise,  and  none 
of  us  are  disposed,  I  imagine,  to  criticise  their  expenditures  as 
wasteful  or  extravagant.  But  we  are  wont  to  hear  much  in 
these  times  about  forgetting  economy,  exceeding  estimates, 
rolling  up  huge,  unwarranted  debts,  and  the  like.  •  There 
is  too  much  reason,  doubtless,  for  such  remarks.  But  it  may 
tend  to  cool  our  indignation  somewhat  to  remember  that  our 
fathers,  blessed  economists,  and  aAvay  beyond  these  sorry  days 
of  dishonesty  and  pilfering  too,  did  not  succeed  in  working 
out  their  theories  and  dodging  debts  in  church  building  any  bet- 
ter than  we  have  done.  For  $16,000  debt,  with  a  member- 
ship of  one  hundred  and  thirty-five,  is  equal  to  $118,000 
debt  with  a  membership  of  one  thousand ;  and  this  was  just 
about  the  highest  figure  our  debt  ever  reached,  and  reached, 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  19 

too,  when  the  cost  of  building  was  unprecedentedly  heavy,  and 
the  management  of  our  enterprise  peculiarly  unfortunate.  They 
paid  their  debt,  and  paid  it,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  without 
grumbling,  although  a  panic  burst  upon  them  and  very  nearly 
prostrated  business  of  every  description.  And  what  is  more, 
they  thought  they  had  a  home  worth  the  cost.  So  let  us  pay 
our  debt  with  as  much  cheerfulness,  and  think  as  well  of  our 
church  home.  And  then — let  us  be  as  wise  as  anybody  wishes 
us  to  be  about  getting  caught  again. 

Dec.  18,  1855,  the  salary  of  Mr.  Perkins  was  raised  to 
$2,000,  and  this,  with  a  membership- of  only  one  hundred  and 
thirty-five,  and  ^16,000  of  debt,  was  certainly  appreciative  and 
generous.  After  the  occupancy  of  the  new  house  of  worship, 
a  peculiar  zest  was  infused  into  every  department  of  church 
life.  The  social  feeling  was  greatly  stimulated,  strangers  were 
carefully  looked  after  and  made  welcome,  and  great  warmth 
of  fellowship  realized.  The  activities  of  the  Church  also 
showed  unwonted  vigor  :  members  were  responsive  to  appeals 
for  every  species  of  Christian  service,  and  everything  wore  an 
aggressive  look.  The  acorn  was  beginning  to  reveal  the  oak  ; 
the  child  was  taking  on  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  man. 

Then  in  an  outer  range  of  relations  the  young  organiza- 
tion was  making  itself  potential,  was  lisping  the  prophecy 
which  its  elder  day  was  so  nobly  to  fulfill.  Early  after  his 
coming  to  Chicago,  Mr.  Perkins  became  closely  identified  with 
two  enterprises  that  lay  near  the  hearts  of  all  lovers  of  the 
old  paths  and  the  good  way,  whose  lot  was  cast  in  the  great 
West.  And  in  no  hearts  had  they  larger  or  warmer  place 
than  in  the  hearts  of  the  members  of  this  Church.  I  refer  to 
the  establishment  of  a  Congregational  newspaper,  and  also  a 
Congregational  Theological  Seminary. 

Some  years  prior  to  Mr.  Perkins'  removal  from  the  East, 
a  newspaper  known  as  the  Gongrecjational  Herald  had  been 
started  in  this  city.  Rev.  J.  C.  Holbrook,  now  Superintendent 
of  Home  Missions  for  the  State  of  New  York,  seems  to  have 
been    the    prime    mover  in    the  enterprise,  although    it    was 


20  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

heartily  endorsed,  and  at  once  taken  in  hand,  by  all  the  leading 
brethren  of  the  denomination  in  the  vicinity.  The  paper  was 
designed  to  take  the  place  of  the  Prairie  Herald,  a  paper  con- 
ducted by  Rev.  J.  B.  Walker  as  chief  editor,  and  carried  on 
in  the  interests  of  the  old  plan  of  union.  The  Congregational 
Churches  felt  that  they  needed  an  organ  with  no  gag  in  its 
mouth,  an  outspoken  advocate  of  their  interests.  Hence  the 
new  paper  was  put  into  the  field  with  Rev.  Darius  E.  Jones  as 
its  first  office  editor,  and  Rev.  J.  E.  Roy,  Rev.  W.  A.  Nichols, 
as  editors  in  chief.  Subsequently  Rev.  H.  L.  Hammond  came 
to  the  city  to  work  up  -the  enterprise,  and  to  act  as  office 
editor,  and  Rev.  S.  C.  Bartlett  joined  the  editorial  corps. 
Mr.  Perkins  took  his  place  at  once  as  a  co-editor,  and  con- 
tinued in  that  position  till  his  death.  These  services,  those  of 
office  editor  excepted,  were  all  gratuitous,  and  were  rendered 
solely  in  the  interests  of  the  denomination  as  an  agency  for 
extending  the  Gospel.  The  paper  stood  staunchly  by  our 
Congregational  faith,  and  sought  to  rally  our  Churches  upon 
that  platform  as  against  the  plan  of  union.  It  pressed 
with  all  its  might  the  doctrine  upon  which  this  Church  had 
planted  itself  in  the  beginning,  viz.,  the  sin  of  slavery  and  of 
all  complicity  with  it  in  whatever  form.  It  urged  also  the 
early  establishment  of  a  Theological  Seminary  as  a  prime 
necessity  of  the  Congregational  Churches  of  the  West.  And 
thus  it  became  recognized  as  the  only  paper  west  of  New 
York  wholly  devoted  to  Congregational  intei'ests. 

The  other  project — that  of  the  Theological  Seminary — was 
in  its  inception  still  more  closely  related  to  this  Church.  Rev. 
Stephen  Peet  so  long  and  widely  known  as  one  of  the  great 
missionary  pioneers  of  the  West,  was  undoubtedly  its  origina- 
tor. But  when,  after  various  conferences,  things  took  shape 
in  April,  1854,  it  was  in  the  rooms  of  the  Congregational 
Herald^  with  Philo  Carpenter  as  Chairman  of  the  meeting, 
and  Rev.  G.  W.  Perkins  as  one  of  the  foremost  counselors. 
The  result  of  this  and  other  meetings  was  the  determination 
to  have  a  Seminary,  the  calling  of  the   Triennial  Convention 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  21 

of  September,  1854,  and  the  organization  of  a  Board  of 
Directors  in  March,  1855,  with  both  gentlemen  just  mentioned 
among  its  members.  And  from  that  day  to  this,  the  Board 
has  always  had  one  member  of  the  Church  and  sometimes 
three  in  its  counsels,  and  similarly  of  ^the  Executive  Com- 
mittee. 

Matters  were  in  this  condition,  the  Church  just  beginning 
to  demonstrate  the  royal  possibilities  that  were  in  it,  when,  on 
Nov.  13,  1856,  both  the  Church  and  the  denomination  in  this 
region  were  inexpressibly  saddened  by  Mr.  Perkins'  sudden 
death.  I  cannot  take  the  time  here  to  set  forth  in  fitting  terms 
the  character  and  the  work  of  this  man  of  God.  And  there 
is  the  less  need  of  this,  since  the  Church  with  touching  and 
grateful  appreciation  has  spread  upon  its  records  a  most  loving 
testimonial  of  his  rare  ability  and  worth.  Indeed  I  have  yet 
to  see  that  eulogium  upon  any  man's  character,  or  life,  or 
work,  that  for  affectionateness  of  spirit,  range  of  qualities 
admired,  and  glowing  emphasis  of  encomium,  is  to  be  named 
with  this  tribute  to  the  first  Pastor  of  this  Church.  If  Mr. 
Perkins  was  the  half  of  what  is  there  set  forth,  either  as  a 
man  or  a  minister,  he  must  have  been  a  marvel,  a  kind  of 
Boanerges  and  Barnabas  combined — such  as  the  Church  and 
the  world  seldom  see.  If  you  can  only  say  of  my  Brother 
Patton  and  myself,  when  our  work  is  done,  that  we  were  not 
unworthy  to  be  his  successors,  it  will  be  eulogy  enough.  It 
should  be  added,  that  a  marble  tablet  suitably  inscribed  was 
provided  by  vote  of  the  Church,  and  placed  in  the  vestibule  of 
the  house  of  worship.* 

During  the  Pastorate  of  Mr.  Perkins  there  were  added  to 
the  Church  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  persons ;  forty-nine 
by  profession  and  eighty-five  by  letter.  There  was  one  quite 
marked  revival  in  this  period,  beginning  early  in  1856  in  con- 
nection with  the  labors  of  Rev.  John  T.  Avery,  the  Evangelist. 
As  the  first  fruits  of  that  work  thirty-five  were  received  by 

*  This  tablet  was   removed  nhen  the  house  was  sold,  deposited  in  tht-  new  edifice,  corner 
of  Ann  and  Washington  streets,  and  shared  the  fate  of  that  building. 


22  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OP  THE 

profession  at  the  May  communion  of  that  year.  Among  this 
number,  I  find  the  names  of  Thomas  M.  Avery,  Dennison  F. 
Groves,  John  C.  Wiswell,  John  W.  Stanley,  Mrs.  Maria  Hall, 
Mary  J.  Hall  (now  Mrs.  Smith),  Charles  H.  Merrill,  who  are 
still  members  of  the  Church ;  Mrs.  Margaret  S.  Avery,  deceased; 
John  M.  Williams  and  Mrs.  Elizabeth  C.  Williams,  now  mem- 
bers of  the  Congregational  Church,  Evanston  ;  Abby  A.  Han- 
son, now  Mrs.  D.  W.  Whittle,  also  united  at  the  same  time 
upon  profession  of  faith.  At  the  July  communion  there  were 
received  by  profession  Dwight  T.  Williams  and  Miss  Viola  E. 
Culver,  still  members ;  also  Walter  V.  Coe,  subsequently  a 
Deacon  and  first  Superintendent  of  one  of  the  Mission  Schools, 
and  now  resident  in  New  Haven,  Connecticut. 

There  are  no  records  of  the  benevolences  of  the  church 
during  this  period.  But  roses  seldom  bloom,  or  peach  trees 
bear  fruit,  only  on  one  branch.  I  assume  that,  with  such  a 
Pastor,  and  such  necessities  and  such  enterprises  pressing  the 
Church,  these  must  have  been  years  of  pre-eminent  liberality. 
And  if  the  books  of  the  Northwestern  Branch  of  the  American 
Missionary  Association,  and  the  Theological  Seminary  and  the 
Congregational  Herald  could  be  examined,  no  doubt  they 
would  give  ample  proof  that  the  grace  of  giving  was  not 
neglected. 

This  brings  us  to  the  third  epoch  of  church  history,  ex- 
tending from  the  installation  of  Rev.  W.  W.  Patton,  January 
8,  1857,  to  that  of  the  present  Pastor,  January  10,  1868,  a 
period  of  eleven  years.  Thus  far  I  have  aimed  to  be  some- 
what minute  in  the  account  of  historical  matters.  I  have  sup- 
posed that  these  earlier  and  less-known  facts  would  possess  th^ 
greater  interest.  Furthermore,  the  real  secret  of  the  growth 
and  fruitfulness  of  every  tree  lies,  not  in  the  branches, 
but  in  the  roots.  Hence  these  explorations  as  to  the  begin- 
nings, the  seed-corns  of  our  history.  The  time  for  Brother 
Patton's  biography  and  for  mine  has  hardly  come.  If  they 
are  worth  the  writing,  those  who  come  after  us  will  find  it  out, 
and  you  can  have  them  at  the  next  Quarter-Centennial. 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  23 

I  shall  endeavor  to  pass  more  lightly  over  what  remains, 
touching  only  the  more  salient  and  characteristic  features  of 
church  life  and  work. 

Dr.  Patton  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of  this  Church  No- 
vember 25,  1856,  at  a  salary  of  $2,000  ;  amended,  December 
10,  and  made  §2,500  ;  the  expenses  of  removal  from  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut,  to  be  met  by  the  Church.  The  call  was 
accepted,  and  the  services  of  installation,  Avith  Dr.  H.  D. 
Kitchel,  of  Detroit,  as  Moderator  of  the  very  large  Ecclesiasti- 
cal Council,  took  place  January  8,  1857. 

We  hear  much  in  these  times  about  ministers  soliciting 
places,  and  being  always  on  the  qui  vive  to  embrace  any  pleas- 
ant opportunity  to  enter  a  larger  field ;  and  as  much,  also, 
about  churches  with  itching  ears,  covetous  of  men  who  are 
original,  fresh,  racy,  who  can  make  the  Gospel  almost  as  enter- 
taining as  rostrum  lectures,  and  the  house  of  God  as  attractive 
as  a  theater.  Here,  now,  were  a  minister  and  a  church  of  a  dif- 
ferent stamp.  On  the  minister's  side,  we  have  it,  in  his  letter 
of  acceptance  of  the  call,  that,  consulting  his  feelings,  he  did 
not  wish  to  come ;  that  to  sunder  the  old  relations  was  "  the 
most  painful  act  of  his  life;"'  that  "'nothing  but  a  sense  of 
duty,"  and  that  "under  the  advice  of  a  council,  would  have 
induced  him  to  take  such  a  step."  And  when  I  think  of  what 
that  step  involved — an  Editorship,  a  Directorship  in  a  theolog- 
ical seminary,  membership  of  half  a  dozen  committees  connected 
with  denominational  matters — all  this,  besides  a  host  of  mis- 
cellaneous duties  and  the  regular  work  of  a  growing  church — 
I  do  not  Avonder  at  his  reluctance. 

On  the  part  of  the  Church,  it  is  patent  from  the  character 
of  Dr.  Patton's  predecessor  and  the  quality  of  his  work,  from 
the  peculiar  and  exacting  duties  which  the  pastorate  involved, 
that  there  underlay  the  call  as  its  inspiring  cause  no  persuasion 
that  the  new  minister  would  distinguish  himself  by  excellency 
of  speech,  or  attract  popular  notice  and  build  up  the  Church 
by  extraordinary  pulpit  pyrotechnics.  The  one  motive  dominant 
in  bringing  about  this  compact  was  preeminently  a  desire  to 


24  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

advance  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  And  after  the  new  relation 
was  consummated,  the  Church,  with  a  grace  as  beautiful  as  it 
is  rare,  conscious  of  the  great  gift  it  had  asked  of  the  Church 
bereft  of  its  pastor,  appointed  a  committee,  of  which  Judge 
W.  W.  Farwell  Avas  chairman,  to  convey  to  the  Fourth  Church 
of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  a  letter  of  sympathy  and  Christian 
regard. 

I  hardly  need  say  that  the  Church  now  entered  upon  a 
career  of  great  prosperity.  The  hand  of  a  skilled  organizer 
shows  itself  everywhere.  For  the  first  time  in  all  these  years, 
the  Church  records  emerge  from  chaos.  There  are  no  more 
ugly  gaps,  stretches  of  years  and  half  years  with  hardh'  a  hint 
of  what  was  doing,  as  if  the  Church  had  buried  itself  among 
the  catacombs,  and  nobody  knew  of  its  weal.  There  are  no 
more  omissions  of  dates,  or  of  entries  as  to  those  received 
into  membership,  or  those  disciplined,  or  dismissed.  "What- 
ever was  acted  upon  by  the  Church,  down  to  the  last  report, 
or  resolution,  or  vote,  found,  as  it  ought,  its  place  in  the  min- 
utes. Nothing  was  too  trivial  to  be  recorded.  And  upon  every 
matter  of  interest  pertaining  to  the  Church  where  no  formal 
action  was  taken,  such  entry  was  made  as  would  serve  to 
complete  the  history.  Only  such  a  model  of  exactness  as  the 
Clerk  whose  guardianship  of  its  records  the  Church  is  now 
privileged  to  enjoy,  and  whose  vigilant  pen  nothing  escapes — 
J.  W.  Sykes — could  dispute  the  palm  with  Dr.  Patton. 

Next  in  this  line  of  organization  came  a  thorough  re- 
modeling of  the  Constitution  of  the  Church,  and  the  addition 
of  a  compact  between  the  Church  and  the  Society  which  now 
became,  for  the  first  time,  a  body  distinct  from  the  Church. 
Then  systematic  benevolence  came  into  the  foreground,  the 
months  of  the  year  being  assigned  to  various  charitable  causes, 
and  a  strict  surveillance  exercised  lest  tlier&  should  be  wolves 
in  sheep's  clothing  among  the  beneficiaries  of  the  Church. 
And  here  and  there  a  record  reads  very  much  as  if  now  and 
then  one  was  belie\ed  to  be  discovered,  and  was  summarily 
pounced  upon  and  choked  oif  from  such  unscriptui'al  stealings. 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  25 

Possibly  it  ought  to  be  said,  that  neither  the  New  York  Tract 
Society,  nor  the  Home  Missionary  Society,  nor  the  American 
Board,  all  of  which  came  under  suspicion  prior  to  their 
getting  clear  of  slavery  relationships,  shared  this  estimate  of 
their  claims  ! 

As  the  result  in  part  of  such  methods,  and  of  the  earnest 
and  persistent  advocacy  of  the  grand  doctrines  of  the  grace 
and  luxury  of  giving,  and  the  obligations  of  Christian  steward- 
ship, the  annual  contributions  of  the  Church  were  carried  up 
from  an  average  of  $1,500  to  §4,000.  And  some  years  the 
total  of  benevolence,  including  donations  to  the  Theological 
Seminary,  touched  a  point  as  high  as  $17,000. 

Dr.  Patton  took  at  once  the  place  of  his  esteemed  prede- 
cessor in  the  joint  editorship  of  the  Congregational  Herald. 
He  had  been  called,  among  other  things,  to  lay  his  hand  to 
that  particular  work  ;  and  like  his  brother  editors  he  gave  to 
its  duties  every  week  the  minister's  traditional  Sunday,  taking 
his  weekly  rest  fighting  anti-slavery  battles  with  his  pen,  and 
compounding  newspaper  theology.  The  Herald  served  its  gen- 
eration to  the  extent  of  the  purses — not  the  brains — that  were 
behind  it,  and  then,  in  the  early  years  of  the  war,  fell  asleep. 
The  full  orbed  glory  of  the  Indepemlqnt.,  then  in  its  zenith, 
seems  to  have  paled  it  into  a  riTsMigmt'^nd  dearth  of  sub- 
scribers soon  furnished  an  esatiinguisher. . 

But  the  loss  was  keenly  felt.  And  out  of  this  feeling  ulti- 
mately, although  not  until  the  fall  of  1867,  came  the  Advance., 
with  Dr.  Patton  as  editor  in  chief:  'He  was  chosen  to  this 
position  while  Pastor  of  the  Church,  and  only  accepted  it  after 
being  unanimously  advised  so  to  do  by  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  representative  Councils  ever  assembled  in  the  West.  His 
relation  to  the  paper  only  hints  at  the  real  relation  to  it  sus- 
tained by  this  Church.  That  appears  decisively  in  the  fact, 
that  originally  a  full  half  or  more  of  its  Board  of  Directors 
were  members  of  this  Church,  and  that  not  less  than  $50,000, 
or  fully  four-fifths  of  all  the  capital  stock  subscribed,  were  put 
into  the  enterprise  by  the  Church.     And  it  is  to  be  noted  that 


26  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

this  money  was  given  without  a  dollar  of  return.  Very  few 
of  those  subscribing  ever  expected  any  ;  they  gave  their  money 
to  this  object  as  they  did  to  Foreign  Missions,  or  Home  Mis- 
sions, for  the  sake  of  the  good  to  be  done,  and  the  Gospel  in- 
terests to  be  furthered. 

How  well  my  brother  did  his  editorial  work,  you  know  as 
well  as  I.  We  have  no  need  as  a  Church  to  be  ashamed  of 
his  record.  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  and  I  think  I  speak  the 
general  conviction  of  my  brethren  in  the  ministry,  and  of  other 
denominations,  too,  that  the  paper  was  under  his  editorship 
second  to  no  religious  journal  of  the  land.  It  may  even  be 
questioned  whether  Dr.  Patton  could  have  done  as  much  for  the 
establishment  of  Christiaaity  during  those  years  in  his  old 
pulpit,  as  he  did  in  the  Sanctum  of  the  Advance. 

I  have  spoken  before  of  the  close  relationship  sustained  by 
this  Church  to  our  Theological  Seminary.  Let  me  here  sup- 
plement my  former  statement.  It  was  understood,  before  Dr. 
Patton  came,  that  he  was  to  take  Mr.  Perkins'  place  in  the 
Board  of  Directors  of  that  institution.  He  was  accordingly 
elected  to  fill  the  vacancy  on  the  day  following  his  installation, 
and  from  that  time  until  the  present,  has  continued  a  member 
of  the  Board,  as  also  of  the  Executive  Committee.  A  part 
of  the  time,  as  has  been  noted,  two  other  members  of  the 
Church  have  served  in  a  like  capacity. 

These  members  of  the  Board  were  not  ornamental.  They 
were  there  to  do  hard  work — the  hardest  kind  of  work — to 
provide  the  new  institution  with  professors,  funds,  buildings, 
endowments,  working  appliances  of  every  kind.  They  were, 
in  short,  to  turn  the  previous  plans  into  substantial  realities, 
and  carry  the  project  up  to  an  assured  success.  And  the 
pressure  was  urgent  to  have  this  done  at  once.  They  grappled 
the  task  in  earnest.  The  first  class  was  organized  in  1858, 
under  Prof.  S.  C.  Bartlett  and  Prof.  Joseph  Haven,  in  the 
study  of  the  old  Green  Street  Church  ;  and  during  the  first 
year  of  the  Seminary's  history,  all  the  sessions  Avere  held  there 
and  in  the  Church  Parlor  adjoining.     In  addition  to  this,  the 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  27 

Students,  eighteen  in  number,  were  provided  with  homes, 
in  the  main  gratuitously,  among  the  families  of  the  Church. 
And  one  of  this  first  class  was  one  of  the  original  members  of 
the  Church.  The  next  year,  a  donation  of  land  having  been 
made  by  Philo  Carpenter,  the  Seminary  opened  its  sessions 
upon  its  own  territory.  But  the  building  occupied  was  one 
belonging  to  the  West  Mission  of  the  Church,  the  Church 
donating  its  use,  and  moving  it  from  its  former  location  for  the 
purpose  of  accommodating  the  Seminary. 

But  there  was  more  substantial  help  rendered  than  this. 
There  came  a  time  when  the  new  institution  was  without 
funds.  The  professors  were  discouraged,  and  had  in  mind 
the  surrender  of  their  positions  on  the  ground  of  inade- 
quate support.  At  this  juncture,  Mr.  Carpenter  came  to  the 
rescue,  pledged  to  the  three  professors  ^5,000  apiece  toward 
the  endowment  of  their  chairs,  and  the  anticipated  break  did 
not  occur.  Other  givings  in  a  like  spirit  followed,  and  I  am 
authorized  to  say  that  fully  one-fifth  of  the  entire  property  of 
the  Seminary,  valued  at  $356,000,  has  been  contributed  by  this 
Church,  Deacon  Philo  Carpenter  giving  not  far  from  $50,000 
of  the  amount.  When  it  is  remembered  that  the  constituency 
of  the  Seminary  embraces  the  States  of  Indiana,  Michigan, 
Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  Iowa,  Missouri  and  Kansas, 
the  record  of  this  Church  is  certainly  creditable.  I  only  hope 
it  will  continue  to  be  as  good  for  all  the  years  to  come. 

As  a  further  record  of  the  interest  felt  in  the  Seminary  by 
this  Church,  one  other  fact  ought  to  be  stated.  After  the 
great  fire  of  October,  1871,  the  present  Pastor  was,  by  vote  of 
the  Executive  Committee,  urged  to  undertake  the  securing  of 
relief  at  the  East  to  avoid  the  closing  of  the  institution,  which 
then  seemed  inevitable  without  such  aid.  The  Church  responded 
generously  to  that  appeal,  and  at  a  time  when  its  own  inter- 
ests very  especially  needed  its  Pastor's  presence,  gave  him 
up  for  six  weeks  of  such  service.  The  plea  for  the  Seminary 
being  made  in  connection  with  pleas  for  the  New  England 
Church,  whose  house  had  been  burned,  and  for  other  Churches 


28  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

•whose  resources  had  been  cut  off  by  the  fire,  the  Seminary 
realized  only  a  few  thousand  dollars  out  of  this  effort.  But 
the  thorough  loyalty  of  the  Church  to  the  institution  was 
conspicuously  shown.  It  was  willing  to  suffer  loss  itself,  rather 
than  see  the  work  of  the  Seminary  checked,  or  its  interests 
imperiled. 

For  the  sake  of  giving  unity  to  the  record  of  Sabbath 
school  work,  which  constituted  a  kind  of  epoch  of  its  own,  I 
have  purposely  omitted  thus  far  any  allusion  thereto.  The 
Church  had  hearty  faith  in  such  efforts,  for  Deacon  Carpenter 
had  organized  the  first,  Sunday  school  held  in  the  city.  There 
was,  accordingly,  a  school  from  the  beginning,  even  prior  to 
the  formal  organization  of  the  Church.  Deacon  Amos  Hol- 
brook  was  first  Superintendent.  He  was  followed  by  E.  S. 
Warner,  who  held  that  position  for  nine  fruitful  years.  He 
had  the  gratification  of  seeing  the  school  swell  its  membership 
to  two  hundred,  and  the  greater  joy  of  seeing  the  labors  of 
himself  and  his  co-workers  owned  of  God,  and  many  of  the 
dear  children  gatliered  into  the  fold  of  the  Church.  His  suc- 
cessor in  the  superintendency  was  Dr.  W.  W.  Patton,  Pastor 
of  the  Church.  Those  were  days  when  Sunday  schools  held 
a  lesser  place  than  that  now  accorded  as  agencies  of  winning 
souls.  Usually  they  were  crowded  in  between  the  morn- 
ing and  afternoon  services.  The  exercises  were  hurried, 
children  and  teachers  were  more  or  less  fatigued  from  the 
morning  service,  and  the  results  were  unsatisfactory.  This 
Church  was  one  of  the  first  to  note  the  evil,  and  to  attempt 
better  things  by  putting  its  second  service  into  the  evening 
and  giving  the  afternoon  to  the  Sunday  school.  This 
arrangement  proved  eminently  wise.  It  not  only  largely  in- 
creased the  interest  of  the  Sunday  school,  but  it  opened  the 
way  for  that  wonderful  era  of  mission  schools,  which  is  one  of 
the  grandest  features  in  this  quarter-centennial  service. 

It  would  appear  that,  at  this  date,  very  little  was  known  in 
the  city  of  such  kind  of  work.  So  far  as  I  can  learn,  there 
were  but  two  mission  schools  carried  on — one  in  the  North  and 


FIRST  rONGKEGATIONAL  CHURCH.  29 

another  in  the  South  Division.  This  Church  was  thus  a  kind 
of  pioneer  in  efforts  of  this  character.  Its  first  enterprise 
was  the  Edwards  Mission.  This  grew  out  of  the  labors  of 
Rev.  W.  A.  Nichols.  After  ceasing  to  act  as  supply  for  the 
Church,  he  became  interested  in  a  section  of  the  city  lying 
between  Jefferson  street  and  the  river,  built,  at  his  own  cost, 
a  chapel  on  Jefferson  street,  south  of  Van  Buren,  lived  in  the 
rear,  and  held  preaching  services  as  well  as  Sunday  school  on 
the  Sabbath.  Subsequently,  the  mission,  with  its  chapel,  was 
moved  to  the  corner  of  Halsted  and  Harrison  streets  and  a 
Church  organized,  a  number  of  members  leaving  the  home 
Church  for  that  purpose.  For  various  reasons,  among  which 
were  its  proximity  to  the  mother  Church  and  also  to  the  South 
Mission,  the  enterprise,  although  liberally  supported  by  the 
Church,  and  embracing  some  of  its  most  active  and  energetic 
workers  among  its  members,  never  proved  a  success,  and 
finally  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Presbyterians,  and  was 
known  as  the  Seventh  Presbyterian  Church  of  troublous 
history.  At  a  later  date  it  was  reorganized  as  a  mission 
of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church,  and  is  now  the  West- 
minster Presbyterian  Church,  corner  of  Peoria  and  Jackson 
streets. 

Next  came  the  South  Mission.  This  Avas  organized  on  a 
hot  July  day  of  1856,  in  the  open  air  on  the  shady  side  of  the 
Foster  School,  near  the  corner  of  Halsted  and  Twelfth  streets, 
with  twenty-six  children  present,  and  Deacon  Walter  \.  Coe 
as  Superintendent.  Disappointed  as  to  the  occupancy  of  the 
school  building,  which  had  been  promised  them,  they  deter- 
mined to  have  a  building  of  their  own,  and  have  it  at  once. 
W.  N.  Mills  proffered  the  use  of  a  lot  on  the  opposite  corner 
of  the  same  streets.  T.  M.  Avery,  J.  H.  Pearson  and  others 
promised  lumber.  John  Gary  pledged  tar  and  gravel  for 
the  roof,  and  before  that  first  session  of  the  school  broke  up, 
a  building  commit-tee  was  appointed  and  notice  given  that 
the  school  would  meet  next  Sabbath  in  its  own  chapel.  And 
when  the  next  Sabbath  came  there  was  the  building  ready, 


30  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

Chicago  fashion,  and  with  nearly  two  hundred  children  on 
hand  to  fill  it.  The  structure  was  speedily  enlarged  and 
at  once  occupied,  enlarged  again  and  then  crowded,  not  less 
than  five  hundred  children  being  often  in  actual  attendance. 
Deacon  Coe  continued  to  act  as  Superintendent  with  great 
efficiency  and  success  for  two  years,  and  was  followed  by 
Ansel  B.  Cook,  who  held  the  position  four  years.  His 
story,  and  doubtless  other  workers  in  the  field  could  match 
it  out  of  their  experience,  sounds  like  a  romance.  He  picked 
up,  for  example,  a  class  of  twelve  boys,  taking  three  or  four 
of  them  out  of  saloons,  partly  intoxicated — one  of  them  al- 
most helplessly  so.  In  the  issue  all  but  one  were  hopefully 
converted  ;  two  are  to-day  prominent  members  of  the  Cente- 
nary M.  E.  Church,  one  is  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  and  the 
worst  one  of  the  whole  class  succeeded  him  as  Superintendent 
of  the  school  ! 

Preaching  was  early  associated  with  the  work,  a  service 
conducted  by  the  Pastor  of  the  Church  being  regularly  held 
after  the  session  of  school.  There  was  also  a  weekly  prayer 
meeting,  sustained  chiefly  by  the  teachers,  some  of  whom, 
though  coming  a  great  distance,  were  always  in  attendance. 
The  self-denial,  and  zeal,  and  faithful  labor  always  characteristic 
of  those  engaged  in  this  enterprise  had  their  reward  in  a  con- 
stant state  of  religious  interest.  Few  weeks  passed  without 
conversions,  few  seasons  without  revivals,  and  during  one  win- 
ter, that  of  1856-57.  not  less  than  sixty  were  believed  to  be 
truly  led  to  Christ.  It  seems  almost  a  strange  thing  that  such 
a  school  should  be  given  up.  But  there  was  a  feeling  that 
the  Edwards  Church,  as  the  older  organization,  had  a  claim  to 
the  ground,  and  was  prejudiced  by  another  work  carried  on  in 
its  vicinity.  Then  the  Methodist  brethren  Avere  anxious  to 
establish  a  church  in  that  locality,  and  solicited  the  control  of 
the  school.  The  result  was  that,  after  a  career  of  great  pros- 
perity and  marked  spiritual  fruitfulness,  the  Mission  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  Methodists  and  became  what  is  now  the 
Maxwell  Street  M.  E.  Church. 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURril.  31 

Next  came,  in  1857,  two  schools  to  the  north  of  the 
Church.  One,  known  as  the  Industrial  Mission,  and  having 
for  its  primary  object  to  teach  girls  how  to  do  plain  sewing  and 
how  to  read,  was  opened  with  Mrs.  Julia  A.  Warner  at  the  head, 
on  North  Union  street,  near  the  river,  and  held  its  sessions  on 
a  week  day.  Naturally  this  soon  came  to  have  a  Sunday 
school  connected  with  it,  of  which  E.  S.  Warner  was  the  first 
Superintendent.  The  other  school,  known  as  the  North  Mis- 
sion, was  opened  on  Rucker  street,  near  Fourth,  the  second 
Sabbath  of  June,  1857.  Its  first  session  was  held  in  an  unused 
car-shop  of  the  Chicago  and  Galena  Railroad,  permission  being 
given  by  Col.  G.  G.  Hammond,  then  in  charge  of  the  road. 
James  A.  Kinney  was  the  first  Superintendent,  T.  T.  Gurney 
Assistant  Superintendent,  and  Mr.  Gurney  with  his  own  hands 
shoveled  out  the  dirt  and  put  things  into  such  shape  as  would 
allow  of  the  holding  of  the  school.  This  building  continued 
to  be  used  until  a  chapel  was  secured,  in  the  fall  of  the  year. 
This  was  burned  in  January  following,  through  the  instigation 
or  agency  of  the  Romanists  of  the  neighborhood  who  were  bit- 
terly hostile  to  the  movement.  A  new  chapel  was  erected 
soon  after,  at  the  corner  of  Curtis  and  Third  streets,  and  the 
school,  under  the  earnest  leadership  of  W.  N.  Mills,  attained  a 
noted  success,  reaching  a  membership  of  four  hundred. 

Ultimately  these  two  Missions,  the  Industrial  and  the 
North,  were  consolidated  into  the  Tabernacle  Mission,  and 
assumed  a  permanent  location  at  the  corner  of  Indiana  and 
Morgan  streets.  Dr.  J.  H.  Hollister,  T.  T.  Gurney  and  Maj. 
D.  W.  Whittle  were  successively  in  charge  of  the  enterprise. 
It  is  difiicult,  not  to  say  impossible,  to  tell  the  story  of  this 
wonderful  work.  The  same  spirit  of  enthusiastic  and  self- 
denying  devotion  noted  in  the  South  Mission  prevailed  here. 
The  teachers,  many  of  them,  though  compelled  to  make  long 
pilgrimages  to  be  at  their  posts,  were  seldom  absent.  They 
were  faithful  to  the  weekly  prayer  meetings  also.  They  gave 
for  the  support  of  the  school  with  almost  unexampled  liber- 
ality.    One  ofiicer  told  me  that  out  of  a  salary  of  $1,500  he 


32  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

gave  for  a  number  of  years  $400 ;  and  this  -while  making  the 
fires,  sweeping  out  the  room,  and  doing  anything  that  was 
needed  to  keep  things  moving.  Another  is  known  to  have 
given  some  years  |1,000  toward  the  expenses  of  the  work. 
And  all  those  engaged  showed  this  spirit.  They  coveted 
souls,  and  to  win  them  they  gave,  and  visited,  and  worked, 
and  prayed  with  untiring  devotion.  And,  as  was  to  be  ex- 
pected, their  efforts  were  abundantly  blessed.  The  school 
marched  steadily  on  in  numbers  until  its  average  attendance 
under  Maj.  Whittle  was  a  thousand,  and  it  would  have  been 
twice  that  just  as  easily,  had  there  been  any  place  for  the  chil- 
dren that  swarmed  in.  Revival  followed  revival;  or  rather  a  con- 
tinuous revival  ran  through  the  year.  It  was  the  exception  when 
at  the  weekly  inquiry  meeting  there  were  no  new  cases  of  those 
ready  to  come  out  on  the  Lord's  side.  Among  many  interest- 
ing features  that  characterized  the  labors  in  this  field,  none 
was  more  noteworthy  fur  its  great  success  than  the  mothers' 
meeting.  This  was  a  monthly  gathering  of  mothers,  originated 
in  February,  1863,  and  chiefly  under  the  care  of  Mrs.  H.  R. 
Hubbard,  although  Mrs.  W.  W.  Patton  and  Mrs.  Susan  T.  Wills 
aided  in  the  earlier  meetings.  Its  special  aim  was  the  conver 
sion  of  the  children  of  those  who  should  meet  together.  But 
after  a  few  gatherings  it  became  evident  that  God  Avas  going  to 
use  the  meeting  in  a  flir  larger  way.  Impenitent  mothers  be- 
gan to  attend,  not  infrequently  Romanists  and  those  who  had 
been  great  neglecters  of  religion,  and  sometimes  those  who 
had  been  scoffers  or  notoriously  low.  Following  their  attend- 
ance came  their  conversion,  then  that  of  their  children,  then 
that  of  their  husbands.  The  records  of  this  meeting  show 
amazing  results.  From  an  attendance  at  the  outset  of  three, 
the  number  ran  up  to  ninety-seven,  with  an  average  in  1870 
of  fifty-eight  for  the  meetings  of  the  whole  year.  And  three 
hundred  different  mothers  are  known  to  have  attended.  Here 
an  entry  shows  that  '-seventeen  rose  for  prayers;"  there,  that 
"six  more  were  rejoicing  in  new  hopes."  Now  we  read  that 
"during  the  year  ten  mothers  were  brought  to  Christ;"  again,. 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  33 

that  "fourteen  had  expressed  hope."  One  brief  record  states 
that  "ten  of  the  hus])ands  had  been  converted  within  the  year," 
and  another,  that  "thirty  of  the  children  had  been  led  into  the 
fold."  And  so  the  story  goes  on  with  its  blessed  witness  to 
the  answers  of  prayer  and  the  mighty  power  of  the  grace  of 
God.  It  is  impossible  to  measure  the  results  of  such  a  work 
as  this,  much  more  that  of  the  whole  enterprise.  But  Avith  a 
Church  numbering  nearly  four  hundred  members  ;  a  Sabbath 
school  of  a  thousand ;  Avith  three  young  men  now  fitting  for  the 
ministry,  two  of  whom  converted  on  the  ground,  have  been 
signally  instrumental  in  securing  during  the  present  year  such 
a  revival  as  Princeton  College  has  never  known, — we  cannot 
fail  to  recognize  the  special  guidance  of  God  in  the  establish- 
ment of  these  schools,  and  to  give  devout  thanks  for  what  He 
gave  the  Church  to  do  thereby  toward  the  advancement  of 
His  kingdom. 

In  1858,  there  was  established  the  West  Mission.  This 
school  was  organized  under  Dr.  J.  H.  Hollister  and  T.  L.  Miller, 
upon  the  open  prairie,  and  held  its  sessions  upon  the  green 
grass  for  six  weeks.  Subsequently  it  obtained  permission  to 
occupy  certain  unfinished  houses  in  the  vicinity,  and  went  from 
one  to  another  as  they  were  completed  until  it  had  occupied  four. 
Its  chapel,  which  came  in  due  time,  stood  near  where  the  Brown 
School  now  is.  This  was  removed  in  1859  to  the  corner  of  Ash- 
land avenue  and  Washington  street,  in  order,  as  has  been  noted, 
to  afford  quarters  for  the  Theological  Seminary.  In  return  for 
this,  the  professors  conducted  a  Sabbath  morning  service  in 
the  chapel.  It  is  a  decisive  proof  of  the  wisdom  of  this  enter- 
prise and  of  the  quality  of  the  work  done  in  it,  that  in  May, 
1860,  within  two  years  of  the  opening  of  the  Mission,  it 
issued  in  the  organization  of  the  Union  Park  Congregational 
Church. 

In  1865,  another  school  was  opened  in  connection  with 
the  Union  Park  Church,  at  the  corner  of  Paulina  and  Second 
streets,  with  Walter  N.  Mills  as  Superintendent.  The  hardest 
of  pioneer  work  was  done  here.     The  boys  were  rough  and 

c 


34  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

unruly,  coming  often  to  the  school  with  pistols  in  their  pock- 
ets and  oaths  on  their  lips.  One  Sunday  the  Assistant 
Superintendent  came  with  a  policeman's  star  on  his  coat, 
having  been  sworn  in  as  a  special  officer  to  preserve  order. 
But  the  Gospel  proved  sufficient.  Christian  love  and  patience 
subdued  the  turbulent  spirits,  and  in  a  short  time  the  school 
proved  a  grand  success.  The  Union  Park  people  soon 
withdrawing  through  the  demands  of  their  home  work,  the 
Mission  was  carried  on  by  this  Church,  and  resulted  in  the 
organization  of  Bethany  Congregational  Church,  October,  1868. 

In  Jill  these  mission  fields  the  practice  was  to  hold  a  prayer 
meeting  every  week,  have  a  preaching  service  on  the  Sabbath 
so  far  as  that  was  practicable,  and  once  in  three  months  have 
a  grand  rally  at  the  home  Church,  with  reports,  exercises  in 
song,  recitations  of  scripture,  addresses  from  the  Superintend- 
ents, and  an  address  or  scripture  exposition  by  the  Pastor. 

It  almost  takes  one's  breath  away  to  read  the  story  of  such 
activity  and  on  such  a  scale.  And  it  certainly  makes  one's 
cheeks  burn  to  contrast  the  enterprises  of  the  church  then  with 
what  we  are  doing  to-day.  Think  of  it,  brethren.  Three 
schools  carried  on  for  years,  and  part  of  the  time  four  or  five, 
besides  the  home  school,  aggregating  from  twelve  to  fifteen  hun- 
dred children ;  three  or  four  chapels  provided,  and  these 
enlarged  as  there  was  need ;  teachers  supplied,  and  books  and 
musical  instruments ;  prayer  meetings  kept  up  weekly,  and  a 
vast  amount  of  visiting  done  among  the  families  on  the  fields : 
all  this,  while  the  membership  of  the  church  did  not  exceed 
three  hundred  and  fifty,  while  a  house  of  worship  was  being 
erected  involving  a  debt  of  $10,000  or  |15,000,  and  the  crash 
of  1857  coming  in  besides  ;  and  yet  nothing  ever  said  or 
hinted  as  to  the  Church  undertaking  too  much  in  the  service 
of  the  blaster !  Not  only  so,  but  the  Church  passed  vote 
after  vote,  now  commending  and  urging  on  the  work  in  this 
mission,  then  in  that,  and  so  keeping  things  at  a  white  heat  all 
the  time.  Indeed,  the  Church  was  so  zealous  in  this  work, 
that  it  appointed   a  committee  of  three  ladies  and  three  gen- 


FIRST  CONGRECJATIONAL  CHURCH.  35 

tlemen,  with  J.  W.  Stanley  as  Chainnan,  whose  duty  it  was 
to  visit  all  the  resident  members  of  the  Church,  ascertain 
who  were  disabled  from  doing  Christian  work,  who  were 
engaged  therein,  who  were  willing  to  engage  and  who  refused. 
That  committee  reported,  September  1,  1858,  that  they  had 
found  that,  of  the  three  hundred  and  forty-one  names  on  the 
roll,  one  hundred  and  six  were  absent  or  undiscoverable,  sixty- 
eight  were  providentially  disabled  from  attempting  work,  one 
liundrcd  and  three  were  engaged  in  teaching,  sixty  had  prom- 
ised to  take  classes,  two  were  attending  as  scholars,  and  two 
declined  to  pledge  themselves.  Let  us  have  another  com- 
mittee ! 

There  is  no  mystery  about  this  zeal  and  its  fruits.  When 
Christian  business  men  have  their  hearts  set,  as  they  did  then, 
upon  making  the  Gospel  known  and  leading  souls  to  Christ ; 
when  they  are  as  willing  to  take  their  carriages  Sabbath  after 
Sabbath  and  gather  up  and  convey  teachers  to  mission  schools  ; 
when  they  will  go  through  darkness,  and  mud,  and  snow,  and 
storm  to  attend  mission  prayer  meetings  a  mile  or  two  away  ; 
when  they  are  so  full  of  Gospel  enthusiasm  as  to  put  up 
chapels  in  a  week,  organize  schools  in  car  shops  and  on  the 
grass,  and  are  chided  by  their  Pastor  for  neglecting  the  home 
church  in  their  devotion  to  the  work  in  the  mission  fields  : 
when  this  is  the  spirit  of  a  people,  there  will  be  no  complain- 
ing about  burdens,  or  hard  times,  and  too  much  aggressiveness. 
Only  let  the  heart  be  thoroughly  kindled  and  enlisted,  as  in 
these  earlier  days,  and  there  will  be  money  enough  and  to 
spare  for  debts,  missions,  everything.  Would  to  God  we  might 
have  a  revival  of  that  old  enthusiasm. 

This  sketch  would  be  incomplete  without  a  word  of  testi- 
mony respecting  the  war  record  of  the  Church.  It  was  what 
might  be  expected  after  such  a  history  as  that  I  have  been 
tracing.  The  Church  threw  itself  into  that  tremendous  strug- 
gle with  all  its  resources  of  money,  men,  faith,  prayer.  It 
had  for  years  held  a  Fourth  of  July  prayer  meeting  for  the 
deliverance  of  the  slave.     And  now,  througk  all  the  thick  mist 


36  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF    THE 

of  tears,  and  blood,  and  nameless  woe,  it  saw  the  answer  com- 
ing and  was  ready  for  its  share  of  the  terrific  costs.  It 
observed  all  the  set  days  of  fasting  and  prayer,  from  that  first 
one  appointed  by  President  Buchanan,  January  4,  1861,  to 
the  last  of  the  series,  and  added  some  of  its  own  appointing. 
It  held  prayer  meetings  a  whole  month  prior  to  the  inaugura- 
tion of  President  Lincoln.  It  resolved  and  re-resolved  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  and  rebellion,  and  sent  copies  of  its  resolu- 
tions to  the  President  and  his  Cabinet.  It  urged  enlistments, 
and  sixty-nine  names  on  its  roll  of  honor  show  with  what  suc- 
cess. It  gave  the  Pastor  to  be  Vice  President  of  the  Western 
Branch  of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission,  and  allowed 
him  to  devote  as  much  time  to  the  work  at  home,  or  in  the 
army,  as  he  chose  to  take.  And  it  never  wavered  in  its  faith 
that  the  end  would  be  the  triumph  of  liberty. 

But  there  is  one  contribution  to  this  war  record  not  gener- 
ally known,  and  which  I  wish  for  the  honor  of  my  predeces- 
sor and  the  truth  of  history,  to  particularize.  Dr.  Patton,  in 
common  with  many  others,  felt  deeply  on  the  subject  of 
slavery,  and  was  greatly  desirous  that  President  Lincoln 
should  issue  a  proclamation  emancipating  the  slaves.  A  con- 
ference with  Rev.  J.  E.  Roy  resulted  in  a  call  for  a  public 
meeting  to  consider  the  matter.  The  meeting  was  held  in 
Bryan  Hall,  and  was  both  crowded  and  enthusiastic  in  the 
highest  degree.  The  proposition  of  Dr.  Patton  caught  the 
popular  mind,  and  a  committee,  of  which  Dr.  Patton  was 
Chairman,  was  appointed  to  prepare  an  address  to  be  sub- 
mitted to  another  meeting  for  approval.  That  meeting  was 
still  more  intense  in  its  enthusiasm  than  the  former.  It  ap- 
proved the  address  and  authorized  Dr.  Patton,  with  others,  to 
proceed  at  once  to  Washington  and  lay  the  matter  before  the 
President.  That  interview  was  held,  the  address  earnestly 
listened  to  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  then  fully  and  candidly  dis- 
cussed. Mr.  Lincoln  stated  to  the  committee  that  he  had  been, 
and  was  then,  anxiously  endeavoring  to  ascertain  what  his  duty 
was  ;  that  if  he  could  find  what  the  tvill  of  Providence  was  he 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  37 

should  obey  it.  The  committee  returned,  a  meeting  was  called, 
the  report  of  the  interview  made,  and  when  the  papers  contain- 
ing the  account  of  that  meeting  came  out,  on  one  page  was  the 
report  of  the  committee  and  on  the  other  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation  !  And  Mr.  Medill,  of  the  Tribune,  is  my  author- 
ity for  the  statement  that  Secretary  Stanton  said  to  him,  that 
after  that  interview  with  the  Chicago  Committee,  Mr.  Lincoln 
no  longer  had  any  doubts  as  to  the  wisdom  of  issuing  the 
proclamation,  but  was  fully  determined  upon  it. 

I  only  add  as  closing  this  period,  that  during  Dr.  Patton's 
pastorate  there  Avere  received  into  membership  seven  hundred 
and  seventy-six  persons  :  three  hundred  by  profession,  and 
four  hundred  and  seventy-six  by  letter.  The  number  of 
enrolled  members  at  the  close  of  his  labors  was  five  hundred 
and  forty-two.  As  Dr.  Patton  is  still  one  of  the  youngest  of 
us,  and  good  for  at  least  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  his  best 
work,  I  shall  not  here  pronounce  his  eulogy  I 

Tho  fourth  and  final  epoch  of  this  history  extends  from 
the  close  of  Dr.  Patton's  labors  until  the  present  time  ;  that  is, 
from  Jan.  1,  1868,  to  May  22,  1876.  The  present  pastor  was 
called  to  this  pulpit  in  November,  1867,  and,  if  he  may  be 
permitted  to  testify  upon  the  point,  came  as  his  predecessor 
had  come,  under  sheer  pressure  of  conscience.  He  was  in- 
stalled January  10,  1868,  and  has  contrived  to  find  enough  to 
keep  him  busy  ever  since.  This  era  has  not  been  one  of 
marvels.  Perhaps,  compared  with  the  periods  preceding  it,  it 
might  be  appropriately  termed  the  plodding  era  of  the  Church. 
But  if  there  be  undiminished  harvests,  there  must  be  yoke- 
wearing  and  tramping  patiently  back  and  forth  in  the  furrow. 
And  it  is  not  ahvays  a  simple  thing  to  keep  a  farm  stocked 
with  the  best  appliances  yielding  a  steady  increase  of  crops, 
nor  a  manufactory  with  the  finest  machinery  paying  augment- 
ing dividends,  nor  to  fight  the  most  brilliantly  conceived  cam- 
paigns through  to  victory. 

The  story  of  these  eight  and  a  half  years  is  too  familiar  to 
require  consideration  in  detail.     One  sweep  of  memory  takes  it 


38  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

all  in.  Our  house  of  worship  early  proving  too  strait  for  us,  and 
a  larger  one  built  on  the  ground  where  this  edifice  now  stands ; 
ridicule  at  first  heaped  upon  us  for  our  innovations  upon  the 
traditions  of  church  architecture,  and  then  compliments  given 
us  for  our  success ;  failure  of  the  pastor's  health  and  generous 
leave  of  absence  for  six  months'  travel  in  the  Orient ;  the  new 
church  building  dedicated  on  the  first  Sabbath  of  June,  1871; 
our  worship  and  our  work  enjoyed  until  the  great  conflagra- 
tion paled  our  faces  and  burdened  our  hearts  ;  our  church 
doors  thrown  open  that  memorable  Monday  afternoon,  and  a  few 
of  us  gathered  around  a  little  table  in  our  lecture  room,  with 
Mayor  Mason,  Police  Commissioner  Brown,  President  Holden, 
of  the  Common  Council,  and  S.  S.  Hayes,  debating  tearfully 
what  should  be  done ;  that  first  proclamation  of  the  Mayor,  issued 
from  our  lecture  room  as  headquarters  of  the  city  government, 
closing  with  words  that  sound  strangely  to-day,  but  were  fear- 
fully significant  then — ''  It  is  believed  the  fire  has  spent  its 
force,  and  all  will  soon  be  well;"  and  that  second  proclama- 
tion, fixing  the  price  of  bread  at  eight  cents  per  loaf,  with  a 
penalty  of  $10  for  every  violation ;  five  hundred  citizens 
sworn  in,  in  the  same  room,  as  special  police  to  patrol  our 
streets  and  preserve  order  ;  the  tears  coursing  down  our  faces 
as  the  telegrams  came  in  testifying  sympathy,  pledging  aid, 
announcing  cooked  food  on  its  way  to  the  starving  ;  the  wel- 
come we  gave,  and  the  food  and  sleeping  places  we  provided 
for  hundreds  of  the  homeless  until  they  could  be  sheltered 
elsewhere  ;  the  Common  Council  spending  one  Sunday  fore- 
noon in  our  Church  parlor,  swearing  at  the  Mayor  and  Relief 
Committee  because  the  moneys  sent  were  not  put  into  their 
hands  ;  and  we,  meantime,  worshiping  up  stairs,  asking  God's 
help  and  giving  thanks  for  this  very  fact ;  our  labors  gladly 
and  persistently  rendered  in  pushing  on  the  blessed  work  of 
relief;  all  this  finally  passing  away,  and  a  year  and  a  quarter 
later  our  Church  home  burned ;  the  affectionate  welcome  we 
received  into  the  house  of  our  brethren  of  the  Second  Baptist 
Church  ;  the  unusual  spiritual  prosperity  of  that  year  of  trial 


FIRST  CON(illi:OATrONAL  OHUIK^H.  39 

as  compared  with  the  year  before;  (lur  house  of"  worshij) 
rebuilt  without  a  penny  asked  of  any  one,  and  made  a 
grander  success  than  its  predecessor  ;  our  blessed  fellowship 
of  Christian  love  and  service  with  the  pleasure  of  the  Lord 
prospering  in  our  hands,  and  great  hopes  filling  our  hearts  of 
better  things  in  the  days  to  come — all  this  is  familiar  as  a 
thrice  told  tale.  And  I  doubt  not  that  to-day  you  are  as 
grateful  for  your  share,  as  I  for  mine,  in  this  marvelous  and 
blessed  history. 

There  are  some  waymarks  of  advance  characterizing  this 
era,  of  which  a  passing  mention  may  be  made.  There  have 
been  contributed  in  the  regular  collections  of  the  Sabbath  and 
the  prayer  meetings,  during  these  eight  years,  not  far  from 
$85,000.  Individual  donations  to  the  Theological  Seminary, 
the  Advance,  the  various  missionary  societies,  are  known  to 
an  amount  not  less  than  $60,000,  making  a  total  of  benevolent 
moneys  of  |145,000.  If  there  be  added  the  cost  of  our  Church 
building,  $210,000 ;  and  for  Church  expenses,  during  this 
period,  $100,000,  the  sum  total  of  moneys  raised  for  Gospel 
purposes  is  $455,000.* 

The  first  auxiliary  in  the  State  to  tlie  Woman's  Board  of 
Missions  of  the  Interior,  and,  with  one  exception,  the  first 
auxiliary  in  the  West,  was  organized  in  this  Church  in  1869. 

The  Bright  Side  Mission,  organized  on  Milwaukee  avenue 
in  1872,  was  carried  up  to  a  membership  of  four  hundred, 
and  gave  promise  of  a  most  fruitful  future.  After  two  years 
of  prosperity,  the  burden  of  church  debt  and  the  consequent 
impossibility  of  providing  a  needed  chapel,  compelled  its  relin- 
quishment. 

The  Sunday  School  of  Bethany  Church,  originally  opened 
by  the  Church,  has  been  virtually  re-assumed.  Deacon  W.  N. 
Mills,  the  first  Superintendent,  has,  with  undiminished  vigor, 
taken  his  old  post,  and  with  a  corps  of  devoted  teachers  fur- 
nished by  the  Church,  and  such  material  aid  as  has  been  need- 

*  As  this  pamphlet  goes  to  press,  it  is  pleasant  to  know  that  by  an  effort  maile  since  this 
anniversary,  the  entire  Church  debt,  funded  and  floating,  amounting  to  $.51,OtiO,  has  been  pro- 
vided for  by  pledges  to  be  paid  within  one  year. 


40  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

ed,  has  seen  the  work  greatly  flourish,  and  many  of  the  youth 
led  to  the  acceptance  and  confession  of  Christ. 

The  Tabernacle  Church,  although  nominally  independent, 
has  never  reached  the  point  of  self-support,  and  has  hence 
never  been  without  the  regular  and  generous  aid  of  the  mother 
Church.  And  in  addition  to  financial  help,  during  the  past  two 
or  three  years  the  Church  has  supplied  a  considerable  part  of 
the  self-denying  board  of  teachers  engaged  in  that  field. 

The  home  School  has  made  large  advances  in  numbers  and 
interest,  and  was  never  more  prosperous  than  now.  Its  roll 
shows  a  membership  exceeding  a  thousand,  with  an  average 
attendance  during  the  months  of  the  last  winter  of  nearly 
seven  hundred. 

The  Scriptures  have  been  introduced  into  the  services  of 
the  sanctuary  in  responsive  readings,  with  gratifying  results. 
The  study  of  the  Word  in  Bible  classes  has  also  been  much 
stimulated  and  enjoyed. 

As  respects  spiritual  fruitfulness,  the  unusually  constant 
growth  of  the  Church  throughout  its  history  has  been  not  only 
maintained  but  considerably  augmented.  Repeated  seasons 
of  revival  interest  have  been  enjoyed.  And  the  spirit  of 
desire  for  immediate  results,  as  also  of  faith  and  prayer  and 
labor  to  secure  them,  was  never  more  manifest  and  potential. 

There  have  been  added  to  the  Church,  during  the  present 
pastorate,  by  profession,  three  hundred  and  sixty-seven  ;  by 
letter,  six  hundred  and  two ;  making  a  total  of  additions  of 
nine  hundred  and  sixty-nine.  The  membership,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  epoch,  January,  1868,  was  five  hundred  and 
forty-two.     It  is  now  ten  hundred  and  eleven. 

In  closing  the  record  of  this  portion  of  our  history,  a  brief 
word  ought  to  be  spoken 'respecting  the  peculiarly  close  rela- 
tians  sustained  by  this  Church  to  the  Evangelistic  work  of  our 
honored  brethren,  D.  L.  Moody,  Maj.  D.  W.  Whittle  and  P. 
P.  Bliss.  It  is  a  matter  of  pardonable  pride  that  when 
Brother  Moody  was  canvassing  the  question  of  duty  as  to  his 
future    work,    when    some    ridiculed    his    illiterateness,    were 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  41 

offended  at  his  plain,  blunt  way  of  putting  Gospel  truth  5 
when  some  pulpits  were  shut  against  him,  and  some  Christian 
people  even  were  disposed  to  think  him  a  clown,  not  to  say  a 
fool,  this  Church  had,  as  a  whole,  only  sympathy  ;  this  pul- 
pit only  a  welcome  and  a  godspeed.  And  I  know  that  this 
hearty  fellowship  and  regard  were  most  grateful  and  inspiring 
to  him.  The  first  Bible-readings  he  gave  in  this  city,  or  gave 
anyAvhere,  as  covering  the  new  method  of  Evangelistic  labor 
which  was  shaping  itself  before  his  mind,  he  gave  in  the  lec- 
ture room  of  this  Church.  And  the  success  of  that  series  of 
twelve  readings  greatly  encouraged  this  dear  brother  to  con- 
tinue in  his  chosen  work. 

Church  and  Pastor  were  one  in  this.  You  never  found 
fault  with  me  for  welcoming  him  so  heartily  to  this  pul- 
pit. You  never  sneered  at  his  broken,  unpolished  utter- 
ances, his  faulty  grammar.  You  agreed  with  me  that,  taught 
in  the  schools,  or  taught  only  in  the  closet,  ordained  by  the 
laying  on  of  men's  hands,  or  ordained  only  by  the  baptism  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  whosoever  he  might  be  that  evinced  the  seal 
of  God's  approval  on  his  endeavors  to  lead  men  to  Christ,  he 
should  have  our  heartiest  fellowship,  our  sincerest  prayers. 
Brother  Whittle  is  our  rightful  ambassador,  for  he  was  con- 
verted through  the  ministry  of  this  pulpit.  Brother  Bliss, 
whom  Mr.  Moody  feels  to  be  as  truly  raised  up  of  God  for  his 
service  of  gospel-song,  as  was  Charles  Wesley,  is  still  one  of 
our  household  and  thanks  God  for  this  fellowship.  They  all 
pray  earnestly  for  us,  as  we  do  for  them  ;  and  may  God  grant 
to  endue  both  them  and  us  with  a  double  portion  of  His  Spirit, 
and  in  the  future  exalt  through  all  our  labors,  as  never  before, 
the  Gospel  of  salvation  through  the  atoning  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

I  must  not  tax  you  more.  Setting  aside,  therefore,  the 
marvelous  record  of  the  growth  of  our  city  during  this  event- 
ful era,  a  growth  that,  whether  considered  as  to  population, 
traffic,  railways,  municipal  improvements,  schools,  churches,  is 
without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  cities  in  this  or  any  land, 


42  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

I  note  two  points  that  seem  peculiarly  emphasized  by  this  re- 
view. First.  The  efficiency  of  the  Congregational  system  of 
Church  government.  It  is  said  that  Congregationalism  cannot 
deal  with  heterogeneous  classes ;  cannot  so  unify  and  compact 
them  as  to  make  them  homogeneous  and  strong.  I  point  to 
this  history  and  affirm  that  this  Church  has  been  doing  it  for 
twenty-five  years,  and  has  never  found  the  slightest  difficulty 
in  the  undertaking.  It  has  been  doing  it  just  as  our  demo- 
cratic government  does  it,  by  taking  those  of  every  kindred, 
and  nation,  and  tongue,  and  assimilating,  developing,  consoli- 
dating them  by  the  imposition  of  responsibilities  common  to 
all,  and  the  enjoyment  of  privileges  and  prerogatives  open  to 
all.  The  mightiest,  most  indissoluble  compacts  are  those  of 
affinity,  not  of  iron  clamps.  Such  is  our  strength.  We  are 
democratic  through  and  through,  wont  to  think  and  reason  in- 
dependently, and  to  speak  and  vote  what  we  think,  knowing 
no  Master  save  Christ ;  yet  by  means  of  these  very  rights  of 
private  judgment,  uncompelled  choice,  free  discussion,  de- 
veloped and  wedded  into  a  spiritual  citizenship  of  unsurpassed 
intelligence,  catholicity,  unity,  power. 

It  is  said  that  Congregationalism  is  loose  in  discipline.  I 
point  to  this  record  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  and  challenge 
proof  of  anything  with  even  the  seeming  of  irregularity,  or 
avoidance  of  investigation,  or  unfairness,  or  injustice  in  the 
methods  used,  or  the  conclusions  reached.  Of  course,  such 
things  are  possible  within  our  polity  :  they  are  possible  any- 
where. And  it  is  not  hard  to  name  churches  of  the  so-called 
orderly  sort,  with  iron-clad  systems,  where  the  very  irregulari- 
ties charged  upon  our  polity  have  occurred.  Good  men  in  any 
brotherhood,  outside  of  the  Congregational  fold  as  well  as  with- 
in it,  may  err,  or  become  prejudiced,  or  wink  at  scandal  for  pru- 
dential reasons.  But  it  must  always  be  a  more  unlikely  thing 
for  a  body  of  thinking  people,  the  majority  of  a  true  Christian 
church  to  be  blinded,  become  partisan,  wilfully  shut  their 
eyes  to  iniquities  that  ought  to  be  exposed  and  punished,  than 
for  a  few  individuals,  or  for  a  single  person  so  to  do.      Christ's 


FIRST  C0N<;RK(;AT10NAL  church.  4:i 

rule  respecting  a  question  of  wrong-doing  is  as  sound  on  its 
human  as  its  divine  side — "Tell  it  to  the  ChurchS' 

It  is  said  that  Congregationalism  is  lax  in  doctrine.  But 
here  are  twenty-five  years  of  growth  in  a  most  heterogeneous 
and  changeful  population  :  the  air  full  of  outcries  against  dead, 
worn-out  creeds,  and  of  the  new  gospels  proposed  in  their 
stead ;  two  thousand  church  members  received,  embracing 
representatives  of  all  the  Evangelical  churches  of  Christendom ; 
and  notwithstanding  all  this  the  Church  never  modifying  its 
statements  of  doctrine  by  so  much  as  a  word.  What  polity 
can  show  a  better  record  of  steadfastness  in  the  faith  once  for 
all  delivered  to  the  saints  ? 

Proved  thus  in  all  these  respects  a  polity  Scriptural  and 
efficient,  in  closest  sympathy  with  every  interest  of  humanity, 
abreast  of  the  most  advanced  thought  in  every  department  of 
inquiry,  holding  the  Gospel  of  the  Son  of  God  to  be  freely 
offered  to  all  men  and  potent  to  rescue  them  from  the  bondage 
of  sin,  eager  above  all  to  make  every  one  who  accepts  its  fel- 
lowship attain  the  largest  measure  of  Scriptural  development 
and  power,  that  he  may  become  an  apostle  of  glad  tidings  and 
win  many  souls — as  such  I  commend  to  you  the  polity  of  the 
fathers  whose  work  this  record  so  peculiarly  attests  and  honors. 

Second.  There  is  illustrated  here  the  amazing  potency 
of  a  rightly  founded,  rightly  developed  Christian  Qhurch. 
Christ  knew  when  He  established  it,  that  among  the  ages  the 
one  only  unchanging,  ever  enlarging,  ever  triumphant  in- 
stitution would  be  His  Church.  Dynasties  rise  and  fall, 
nations  come  and  go,  political  economies,  philosophies,  enter- 
prises of  a  thousand  kinds  shift,  and  go  to  wreck,  and  fade 
away;  but  the  Kingdom  and  the  Church  it  enfolds  abide,  and 
through  all  the  overturnings  only  take  on  fresh  growth  and 
glory.  And  every  local  church  of  the  true  spiritual  kind  has 
in  its  life  something  of  the  imperishableness  and  on-reaching 
majesty  and  power  of  the  Kingdom.  So  it  be  a  true  church  of 
Christ  it  can  never  die,  but  under  whatsoever  name  or  form 
must  needs  live  on  forever.     There  are  hundreds  of  churches  in 


44  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL. 

our  land  which,  even  in  their  visible  organization,  illustrate  this. 
The  neighborhoods  where  they  were  planted  have  changed, 
families  have  been  broken  up  and  scattered,  generations  have 
come  and  gone,  communities  have  been  transformed,  and 
through  all  the  mutations  the  same  old  church  organization 
has  held  its  way,  its  life  visibly  stronger,  its  fruit  richer,  its 
potency  wider  than  ever. 

But  the  power  of  a  church  lies  chiefly  in  the  realm  of  in- 
visible forces.  All  industries  quickened,  all  wants  measurably 
relieved,  all  interests  of  every  kind  championed;  institutions  of 
learning  originated  or  fostered  with  unfailing  prayers  and 
gifts  ;  children  won  by  hundreds  and  thousands  to  the  paths  of 
purity  and  life  ;  souls  innumerable  saved  from  the  wreck  of  sin 
and  becoming  the  heralds  and  ministers  of  this  same  redemp- 
tion to  others  ;  communities,  states,  and  even  nations,  per- 
ceptibly leavened  Avith  a  pure  morality,  anchored  on  found- 
ations of  truth,  justice,  righteousness  ;  all  this,  and  other 
possibilities  of  power  which  only  the  mind  of  the  Infinite  can 
grasp,  lodged  in  one  such  organization  as  this,  and  through 
all  the  ages  of  human  history  perpetually  reproduced  and 
magnified  to  the  good  of  man  and  glory  of  God  I  Surely 
the  Scripture  figures  as  to  the  growth  of  the  Kingdom  are  in  a 
manner  applicable  to  every  individual  church.  The  mustard 
seed  is  sure  to  become  the  great  tree,  and  the  handful  of  corn 
to  shake  like  the  forests  of  Lebanon. 

Brethren,  let  us  take  a  double  lesson  from  this  revieAv.  On 
the  one  side  let  there  be  devout  thanksgivings  for  these  blessed 
experiences  of  the  past ;  on  the  other,  devout  consecrations  to 
the  one  great  end  for  which  every  true  church  exists — the 
establishment  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  through  the  salvation 
of  men.  And  may  He,  through  wliose  loving  kindness  our 
experiences  have  been  so  memorable,  so  abide  with  and  em- 
power us  in  the  days  to  come,  that  our  past  shall  be  to  our  fu- 
ture as  the  brightness  of  the  morning  to  the  full,  meridian 
glory  of  the  day. 


ADDRESS 


REV.    WM.    W.    PATTON,    D.  D., 

AT    THE    EVENING    SERVICE    OF    THE 

QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE  FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH 

OF  CHICAGO. 


In  order  to  compress  what  I  have  to  say  on  this  fruitful 
theme  within  the  compass  of  the  time  allotted  me,  and  to  make 
my  statements  clear  and  exact,  I  have  reduced  my  remarks  to 
writing.  Recalling  your  attention,  for  a  few  moments,  to  the 
facts  connected  with  the  origin  of  this  Church,  as  described  in 
the  able  discourse  of  Dr.  Goodwin  this  morning,  I  shall  dwell 
briefly  on  the  real  meaning  of  the  occurrence,  and  shall  then 
pass  to  matters  of  personal  testimony  in  connection  with  the 
history  of  the  church. 

To  the  casual  spectator,  who  might  have  been  present  amid 
the  scenes  which  preceded  and  attended  the  organization  of 
this  church,  twenty-five  years  ago,  the  event  which  we  are 
celebrating  might  easily  have  appeared  to  have  been  largely 
casual — the  product  of  a  local  excitement,  the  issue  of  a  church 
quarrel.  The  mistake,  however  natural,  would  have  been 
egregious.  There  was,  in  reality,  nothing  sporadic  in  the  case, 
but  the  effect  was  due  to  causes  far  back  and  long  at  work,  and 
which  were  revealing  themselves  at  the  same  time  in  many 
other  places.     There  was,  as  we  oftentimes  express  it,  "some- 


46  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

thing  in  the  air  "  which  predisposed  to  such  a  result.  "It 
was  bound  to  be."  And  so,  when  it  came,  it  was  not  an  acci- 
dent, nor  yet  was  it  a  mere  creature  of  passion  and  will ;  it 
was  a  growth  and  a  birth.  In  form  it  sprang  from  a  double 
disorder,  each  party  acting  irregularly ;  but  the  impelling 
power  was  in  great  vital  principles.  The  majority  of  the  Third 
Presbyterian  Church  of  this  city,  dissatisfied  with  the  action 
of  the  New  Scliool  General  Assembly  on  slavery,  voted,  over 
the  head  of  its  Session  of  Elders,  to  discontinue  sending  dele- 
gates to  any  of  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  till  that  action  should 
be  made  thoroughly  anti-slavery.  Koay,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  such  a  vote  was  technically  irregular ;  that  it  was 
indefensible  upon  any  Presbyterian  principle.  It  was  a  kind 
of  ecclesiastical  rebellion  ;  it  was  out  of  keeping  with  the  whole 
system,  which  regards  the  local  church  as  bound  by  the  action 
of  its  own  Session,  the  Presbytery,  the  Synod  and  the 
General  Assembly,  the  latter  being  the  supreme  judicatory. 
What  lawyers  would  say  of  a  popular  meeting  reviewing  the  de- 
cision of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  refusing  longer  to  recognize 
the  existence  of  that  body,  or  of  intermediate  courts,  precisely 
that  Presbyterians  said  of  the  action  of  the  Third  Church  in 
this  case.  It  Avas  in  all  respects  illegal ;  for  the  church  did 
not  withdi-aw  from  the  denomination,  and  yet  refused  to  per- 
form the  duties  of  a  church  in  the  denomination.  What  was 
the  explanation  ? 

The  difficulty  arose  from  a  large  leaven"  of  Congregational- 
ism, which  had  been  introduced  into  the  Presbyterian  Churches 
of  this  region.  Through  an  undue  subordination  of  church 
polity  to  a  regard  for  Calvinistic  doctrines,  during  the  previous 
half  century,  and  a  Christian  desire  to  unite  forces  in  the  weak 
churches  of  the  new  settlements,  the  Congregationalists  had 
made  the  mistake  of  almost  committing  denominational  suicide, 
by  foregoing  their  own  preferences,  when  out  of  New  England, 
and  uniting  with  Presbyterian  Churches.  And  so  it  came 
about  that,  twenty  years  after  the  founding  of  Chicago,  there 
was  in  it  no  Cono;reoational  Church,  wliile  there  were  three 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  47 

Presbyterian  Cliurclies  organized  largely,  perhaps  principally, 
rom  Congregational  material.  Here  we  get  light  on  the 
action  of  the  Third  Church.  The  ma,jority  were  really  in 
sympathy  witli  Congregationalism,  and,  without  reasoning  on 
the  matter,  proceeded  to  act  with  reference  to  the  General 
Assembly,  much  as  a  dissatisfied  Congregational  Church  might 
have  acted  toward  one  of  our  associations  or  conferences,  with 
which  it  is  in  fellowship,  but  to  which  it  is  not  subject.  Under 
the  progress  of  the  anti-slavery  reform,  there  had  come  to  be 
extensive  dissatisfaction  in  the  New  School  Presbyterian  body 
(which  embraced  large  numbers  of  ministers  and  churches  of 
Congregational  origin)  with  its  relation  to  slavery;  and  the 
General  Assembly  Avas  found  to  be  the  principal  obstacle  to 
the  needed  purification.  When  this  fact  was  added  to  the 
evil  influence  of  the  great  schism  with  the  Old  School,  which 
occurred  in  1838,  the  eyes  of  many  were  opened  to  the  unde- 
sirableness  of  centralized  church  politics  based  on  power,  and 
their  hearts  naturally  returned  to  their  first  love — the  Congre- 
gationalism of  New  England,  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  and  of 
the  New  Testament  churches. 

Hence,  when  the  irregularity  of  the  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church  was  met,  on  the  part  of 
the  Church  Session,  under  order  of  the  Presbytery,  by  a  far 
greater  irregularity,  even  by  an  act  of  despotic  power,  which, 
without  charges  or  trial,  ejected  those  who  voted  for  the  action 
from  their  church  relations  as  individuals,  they  naturally  and 
inevitably  organized  as  the  First  Congregational  Church  of 
Chicago.  The  event  was  sure  to  occur,  and  the  manner  of  its 
coming  was  purely  incidental.  The  time  had  arrived  when 
Congregationalism  was  to  unroll  her  ancient  banner,  and  to 
call  her  sons  once  more  about  it,  in  the  name  of  primitive 
truth  and  order,  choosing  as  the  watchwords  of  her  discipline 
the  old  gospel  sentences:  "  Tell  it  unto  the  Church  !"  "  All  ye 
are  brethren  !  "  Similar  changes  were  rapidly  taking  place 
throughout  the  West,  and  the  two  rival  systems  were  thence- 
forward to  run  in  separate  paths. 


48  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

It  was  my  happy  experience  to  act  as  the  Pastor  of  this 
Church  from  January,  1857,  to  January,  1868,  or  for  a  period 
of  eleven  years,  serving  in  this  capacity  for  six  months  after 
my  technical  resignation,  in  July,  1867,  or  until  my  successor, 
Rev.  E.  P.  Goodwin,  D.  D.,  was  installed.  Since  that  time, 
the  membership  of  myself  and  family  has  continued  with  it — 
the  children  uniting,  one  after  another,  till  we  number  seven 
on  the  church  roll — and  it  has  been  our  loved,  spiritual  home. 
Thus  I  am  on  the  twentieth  year  of  an  intimate  personal  ac- 
quaintance with  its  affairs,  and  appear,  on  this  auspicious  anni- 
versary, as  a  witness  somewhat  competent  to  testify  to  its 
characteristic  spirit ;  and  my  testimony  shall  relate  to  these 
four  points  : 

1.  The  unwavering  devotion  of  the  Ohurch  to  its  vieivs  of 
truth  aiid  right.  We  have  seen  that  it  was  cradled  in  the 
spirit  of  liberty,  and  from  the  first  stood  committed  to  direct 
antagonism  to  slavery.  This  position  was  unpopular  in  the 
community ;  its  views  were  regarded  as  fanatical  by  the  other 
churches.  The  rabble  called  it  the  "  nigger  church,"  and 
mischievous  boys,  catching  the  spirit  of  their  elders,  scribbled 
that  name  on  its  doors.  But  the  old  "  Pilgrim  "  characteris- 
tics only  came  out  the  more  clearly  in  this  opposition,  and 
each  member  said,  with  the  undaunted  Paul,  "  None  of  these 
things  move  me." 

The  first  regularly  installed  Pastor,  Rev.  George  W.  Per- 
kins, was  my  ministerial  neighbor  and  anti-slavery  co-laborer 
in  Connecticut,  and  my  personal  friend.  He  was  a  man  of 
ability,  of  piety,  of  moral  courage,  of  sound  sense  and  of  social 
address,  and  he  nobly  started  the  church  on  its  permanent 
path  of  labor  and  success.  His  death  was  a  great  loss  to  many 
important  interests ;  but  the  church  moved  on  to  supply  his 
place  in  the  same  fidelity  to  truth.  The  brethren  did  not  in- 
quire for  the  greatest  theologian,  or  the  most  eloquent  orator, 
or  the  most  stunning  sensationalist,  but  simply  said :  ''  Who 
will  maintain  the  same  principles  ?  Who  will  hold  aloft  the 
the  Christian  standard  of  reform  ?  "     And,  having  confidence 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  40 

that  he  who  now  addresses  you  would  do  this,  they  invited 
him  to  become  their  Pastor.  Right  onward  were  their  faces, 
bent  on  a  victory  over  the  gigantic  sin  of  the  land,  Avhicli  was 
holding  in  thraldom  Church  and  State  alike.  And  they  were 
unflinching  in  their  testimony,  within  the  denomination  as  well 
as  outside  of  it.  They  criticised  the  too  conservative  and  tardy 
action  of  the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  and  of  the 
American  Home  Missionary  Society,  as  to  separating  from  the 
evil  in  question,  and  bestowed  their  contributions  elsewhere, 
till  all  connection  of  these  societies  with  slavery  ceased.  They 
enlisted  earnestly  in  the  eifort  to  induce  the  American  Tract 
Society  to  treat  slavery  as  it  did  intemperance  and  other  ac- 
knowledged sins.  They  always  remembered  the  slave  among 
the  subjects  of  prayer.  Every  Independence  Day  was  intro- 
duced with  a  morning  prayer  meeting  for  the  liberation  of  the 
slave,  up  to  the  time  when  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation 
went  forth  :  and,  to  aid  in  securing  that  proclamation,  they 
sent  their  Pastor,  at  the  head  of  a  delegation,  to  confer  with 
President  Lincoln.  The  day  John  Brown  was  hung,  the  city  bells 
of  Chicago  were  tolled  by  order  of  John  Wentworth,  Mayor,  and 
this  church  held  a  special  meeting  for  prayer  and  conference 
in  the  evening.  A  sermon  was  preached  on  the  subject,  the 
next  Lord's  Day  morning — not  in  approval  of  John  Brown's 
methods,  but  in  admiration  of  his  Puritanic  character,  and  in 
humiliation  for  the  existence  of  the  bondage  which  tempted  him 
to  his  rash  crusade.  And  when,  finally,  the  war  came  between 
slavery  and  freedom,  the  church  sent  from  the  congregation 
and  schools  sixty-nine  representatives  into  the  army,  and  al- 
lowed its  Pastor  to  devote  large  time  and  labor  to  the  work  of 
the  Northwestern  Sanitary  Commission,  here  and  in  the  field. 
And,  with  a  similar  spirit  of  devotion  to  reform,  has  the 
church  maintained  the  cause  of  Temperance,  of  political  purity 
and  of  every  other  enterprise  struggling  for  the  right.  To  its 
Pastors  it  has  always  given  a  free  pulpit,  in  Avhich  they  might 
proclaim  whatever  they  believed  to  be  the  truth  of  God ;  and 
I   desire  personally  to  testify  to  this  fact,  remembering  how 


50  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

often  I  was  patiently  and  candidly  heard,  when  advocating 
views  which  were  contrary  to  the  opinions  of  a  part,  and  some- 
times of  a  majority  of  the  auditors.  And,  during  the  years  thus 
markedly  characterized,  this  course  was  steadily  maintained, 
notwithstanding  the  positive  knowledge  that,  because  of  it, 
persons  of  intelligence  and  pecuniary  resources,  whose  aid  in 
sustaining  the  heavy  burdens  would  have  been  most  welcome, 
and  whose  previous  affinities  should  have  led  them  to  our  eccle- 
siastical fellowship,  were  induced  to  connect  themselves  with 
churches  of  other  denominations.  It  often  seemed  to  me,  in 
those  times  of  moral  conflict  and  of  comparative  disrepute,  that 
something  of  the  heroism  of  the  early  Christian  Church  was 
manifest,  as  the  members  identified  themselves  so  willingly 
with  God's  despised  poor,  for  the  Master's  sake,  "  rejoicing 
that  they  were  counted  worthy  to  sufter  shame  for  His  name." 
It  was  not  self-will,  but  unflinching  testimony  to  the  truth. 

2.  The  second  point  of  my  testimony  shall  relate  to  the 
eminently  democratic  spirit  of  this  church.  A  Congregational 
Church  is  in  its  nature  a  democracy.  The  people  rule,  and 
that  by  direct  vote.  The  way  for  action  may  be  prepared  by 
committees,  but  the  decision  of  aff"airs  is  by  the  actual  voice  of 
the  membership,  who  accept,  dismiss  and  discipline  each  per- 
son, as  the  case  may  require.  In  this,  it  is  on  the  basis  of  the 
New  Testament.  For  the  command  of  Christ,  in  regard  to  a 
case  of  discipline,  was,  "Tell  it  unto  the  church'' — unto  the 
ecclesia  or  assembly  of  the  disciples.  Paul,  also,  when  he  gave 
direction  to  the  Corinthian  Church,  in  the  First  Epistle,  to 
excommunicate  the  member  who  notoriously  had  been  guilty  of 
incest,  bade  them,  "  when  ye  are  gathered  together  "  (that  is, 
in  full  church-meeting)  -'and  my  spirit,  with  the  power  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  deliver  such  a  one  unto  Satan;"  and 
ended  by  saying  to  the  whole  body  :  "  Put  away  from  among 
yourselves  that  Avicked  person."  This  they  did,  in  the  divided 
condition  of  the  church,  apparently  by  a  majority  vote  ;  for, 
in  the  Second  Epistle,  where  he  pleads  for  the  restoration  of 
the  now  penitent  ofl"ender,  he  says  to  the  brotherhood :   "  Suf- 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  OHUIICH.  51 

ficient  to  such  a  man  is  this  punishment  which  was  inflicted  of 
many,"  or,  literally  rendered,  "by  the  majority." 

Thus,  the  central  idea  of  a  Congre<rational  Church  is  that 
of  equality  of  rights  and  self-government.  "  One  is  your 
Master,  even  Christ,  and  all  ye  are  brethren,"  is  its  Scriptural 
motto.  But  practice  often  departs  from  theory,  and  leading 
influences  may  greatly  modify  a  democracy.  For  a  church,  as 
well  as  any  other  community,  needs  an  intelligent  and  positive 
leadership,  and  ordinarily  secures  it  in  the  persons  of  the  Pas- 
tor and  Deacons.  Oftentimes,  however,  leadership  assumes  too 
much  the  spirit  of  control,  and  a  few  members  of  wealth  and 
social  influence  will  virtually  dictate  the  entire  action  of  a 
church.  Occasionally,  it  even  happens  that  a  single  man's 
will  is  so  strong,  his  opinions  are  so  pronounced,  and  the  de- 
pendence of  the  church  upon  him  is  so  marked,  that  the  entire 
body  comes  into  bondage,  though  the  forms  of  liberty  are  still 
maintained.  Now  it  is  to  the  entire  absence  of  any  such  fact 
in  the  history  of  this  church  that  I  would  testify.  No  clique, 
or  circle,  or  set  of  brethren  has  ever  been  accused  of  ruling 
the  church  and  of  giving  law  to  the  Pastor.  There  was  one 
brother  who,  more  than  any  other,  was  the  founder  of  the 
church,  and  without  whose  earnestness  of  purpose  and  gener- 
ous pecuniary  aid,  it  would  never  have  survived  the  perils  of 
infancy.  As,  to  our  great  regret,  he  is  not  present,  being  ab- 
sent in  pursuit  of  health,  I  will  name  him — Philo  Carpenter, 
Esq.  Had  he  so  chosen,  he  might  easily  have  assumed  some 
such  attitude  as  that  which  has  been  described,  and  his  word 
would  have  been  clothed  with  more  or  less  power.  But  never 
was  a  member  more  modest ;  never  did  the  richest  man  in  the 
church,  whose  means  more  than  equaled  those  of  all  the  others 
combined,  rely  less  upon  pecuniary  influence,  or  avoid  more 
carefully  the  faintest  appearance  of  dictation.  A  casual  visitor 
at  a  business  meeting,  no  matter  how  important  the  topic  un- 
der debate,  would  never  have  selected  that  brother,  by  reason 
of  his  remarks,  as  the  founder  and  leading  supporter  of  the 
church.      He  spoke  with  clearness  and  decision,  but  also  with 


52  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

moderation,  and  when  voted  down,  as  often  he  was,  took  the 
fact  with  entire  equanimity.  And  this  humility  seemed  to  be 
shared,  to  a  wonderful  degree,  by  the  other  natural  leaders. 
No  one  wanted  to  insist  upon  his  own  opinion,  though  ready 
enough  to  express  it.  Each  was  fearful  of  any  approach  to 
dictation,  in  words,  in  manner,  or  in  deeds.  And  thus  the 
habit,  has  been  to  have  everything  done  openly,  after  general 
discussion,  and  by  vote  of  the  church,  rich  and  poor  having 
equal  privileges,  and  the  most  recent  comer  not  being  over- 
shadowed by  the  older  members. 

3.  I  would  testify  to  the  unbroken  spirit  of  union  which 
has  pervaded  the  church  since  its  organization.  Twenty-five 
years  of  peace  and  fraternal  love  is  a  record  of  which  any 
church  may  be  proud.  Especially  is  this  true  in  the  case  of  a 
church  which  manages  its  own  affairs,  and  which  takes  a  living 
interest  and  an  active  part  in  the  stirring  events  of  these  times 
of  excitement.  How  numerous  are  the  occasions  upon  which 
churches  contrive  to  quarrel !  The  settlement  and  dismission 
of  ministers,  the  location  and  erection  of  church  edifices,  the 
discipline  of  offenders,  the  management  of  the  music,  the  posi- 
tion of  the  minister  or  of  the  church  on  questions  of  reform 
— these  are  matters  over  which  many  a  church  has  been  rent 
asunder,  or  has  suff'ered  from  prolonged  internal  divisions. 
All  these  questions,  and  yet  others  of  an  agitating  character, 
with  reference  to  which  there  were  divided  opinions,  have  been 
up  for  discussion  before  this  church.  But  nothing  has  led  to 
discord.  Its  three  settled  Pastors  were  called  by  unanimous 
votes.  The  first  died  in  his  work,  greatly  lamented  by  all  who 
knew  him.  The  second,  after  eleven  years  of  labor,  voluntarily 
resigned  his  pastorate,  to  aid  in  what  he  and  others  believed  to 
be  the  most  important  thing  remaining  to  be  done  for  the 
churches  of  the  Interior — the  establishment  of  a  first-class  reli- 
gious newspaper  at  this  metropolitan  center.  The  third  is  noAv  on 
his  ninth  year  of  most  successful  ministry.  In  this  day  of  uni- 
versal change  and  of  brief  pastorates,  in  this  city  of  ceaseless 
agitation  and  fresh  novelties,  is  it  not  worthy  of  notice,  that  a 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  53 

church  has  thus  harmoniously  enjoyed  the  ministry  of  its  choice? 
Five  times  has  it  built  its  edifice  for  worship,  on  three  difterent 
sites,  and  with  a  divided  opinion  as  to  the  wisest  location. 
There  was  abundant  discussion,  but  no  schism.  And,  similarly, 
a  disputed  case  of  discipline  has  occurred,  ever  and  anon, 
engaging  the  feelings  warmly  for  the  time  being,  but  leaving 
no  deep  traces  behind.  The  secret  of  such  union  has  largely 
been  that  democratic  spirit  to  which  reference  was  just  now 
made.  Everything  has  been  done  openly,  and  by  the  whole 
church,  and  after  the  freest  and  fullest  discussion.  The  under- 
standing was  that  every  member  should  be  encouraged  to 
express  his  mind,  no  matter  from  whom  he  differed.  This 
privilege  has  been  used  with  the  greatest  freedom,  and  the 
debates  have  consequently  waxed  at  times  so  warm  as  to  lead 
new  members,  who  did  not  understand  the  genius  of  the 
church,  to  fear  that  a  division  would  ensue.  But  the  debate 
ended,  and  the  vote  taken,  the  minority  always  gracefully 
yielded  to  the  majority,  knowing  that  everything  had  been 
done  fairly,  and  only  sorrowing  that  the  majority  were  not 
more  wise  !  In  such  a  minority  we  have  all,  by  turns,  found  our- 
selves. Thus  freedom  and  fairness  have  secured  unity  and 
peace.  Having  no  particular  set  of  men  or  of  families  to 
gratify,  having  no  caucus  to  direct  the  church,  having  all  con- 
fidence that  a  body  of  Christian  believers,  with  full  oppor- 
tunity to  compare  views,  can  reach  safe  conclusions,  the  First 
Congregational  Church  of  Chicago  rejoices  this  day  in  a  quarter 
of  a  century  of  brotherly  love.  And  if  discord  shall  ever 
come  in,  it  will  be  in  the  train  of  a  departure  from  this  path 
of  wisdom.  It  will  be  the  result  of  a  lack  of  confidence  in 
the  brotherhood,  or  of  a  failure  continually  to  consult  them  in 
plans  of  action ;  in  a  gradual  substitution  of  the  Prudential 
Committee  for  the  church,  and  the  habit  of  announcing  that 
the  Committee  has  decided  to  do  this  or  that,  instead  of 
gaining  a  fresh  impulse  from  the  decision  of  the  church  itself. 
4.  My  testimony  shall  bear  on  but  one  point  more — the 
quiet  persistenee  of  this  church  in  its  legitimate  spiritual  work. 


54  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

It  has  lived  to  advocate  all  moral  and  religious  truth,  and  to 
engage  in  every  form  of  Christian  labor.  Anti-slavery  in 
principle,  it  never  was  a  mere  anti-slavery  society.  Favoring 
reform,  it  did  not  make  reform  its  religion.  Accused,  indeed, 
falsely,  at  times,  of  having  but  one  idea,  and  of  running  along 
a  narrow  line  of  fanaticism,  it  fell  behind  no  church  in  the 
city — it  led  the  most  of  the  churches — in  every  form  of  prac- 
tical Christian  usefulness,  and  in  securing  the  results  which 
are  comprehended  in  the  most  genuine  success.  It  gave  a 
generous  support  to  home  and  foreign  missions,  to  tract  distri- 
bution, to  the  Bible  Society,  and  to  all  charitable  enterprises. 
The  contribution-box  and  the  subscription-paper  went  on  never- 
ceasing  rounds.  The  useful  and  popular  Home  of  the  Friend- 
less owed  its  origin  to  one  of  our  female  members,  who  made 
the  first  collection  of  money  and  subscriptions  in  its  behalf. 
The  Theological  Seminary  of  the  denomination  not  only  has 
found  here  its  most  liberal  individual  donor,  but  has  received  a 
larger  aggregate  from  its  contributions  than  from  those  of  any 
other  church.  One  member  has  served  over  nineteen  years  on 
its  Executive  Committee,  another  for  twelve  years  or  more,  and 
others  for  briefer  periods.  It  set  the  example  to  churches  of 
all  denominations  in  the  city,  in  the  matter  of  systematic 
mission-work  by  individual  churches,  instead  of  by  union 
effort.  All  the  churches  were  then  holding  their  second 
preaching  service  in  the  afternoon.  Its  pastor  proposed  to 
this  church  to  change  that  service  to  the  evening,  and  to  leave 
the  afternoon  free  for  mission-work,  to  be  carried  on  at  a  dis- 
tance from  the  edifice,  in  destitute  localities,  by  its  own  mem- 
bers. This  was  done,  and  soon  the  church  had  four  mission- 
schools,  in  addition  to  its  home-school,  and  its  example  of 
labor  and  success  led  to  a  general  imitation  of  its  methods 
throughout  the  city.  Nothing  sensational  has  ever  marked  its 
course.  It  did  not  flourish  most,  as  some  churches  do,  in  the 
newspapers.  Quietly  and  unostentatiously  it  gave  itself  to  the 
regular  work  of  a  church,  seeking  to  edify  saints  and  convert 
sinners.     It  set  up  no  special  standard  or  attraction  of  respect- 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  55 

ability,  for  fear  respectability  might  be  its  leanness,  if  not  its 
spiritual  death.  It  sought  to  gather  no  crowd  by  artistic  sing- 
ing, or  by  sermons  that  astonished  the  hearers  by  their  rhetoric 
or  their  heresy.  But  the  aim  Avas  ever  constant  growth  by 
instructive  teaching  and  faithful  work.  The  families  and  the 
Sunday  schools  were  expected  to  furnish  a  continual  harvest ; 
while  the  winter  seasons  were  employed  with  considerable 
uniformity  as  opportunities  for  special  revival  efforts.  Con- 
sequently the  history  of  the  church  has  been  marked  with 
many  revivals  of  power,  and  there  has  been  hardly  a  com- 
munion season,  during  these  twenty-five  years,  which  has  not 
witnessed  not  only  an  addition  to  the  membership,  but  usually 
an  addition  by  conversion  from  the  world.  Had  the  church 
failed  here,  I  should  have  counted  its  successes  in  other  respects 
of  small  value. 

And  so  I  look  back,  and  thank  God  for  the  organization  ol 
this  church  ;  for  its  fidelity  to  principle,  for  its  generosity  in 
giving,  for  its  efficiency  in  labor,  for  its  stimulating  influence 
upon  other  churches.  I  praise  Him  for  the  part  which  it  was 
permitted  me  to  have  in  its  early  struggles  and  victories,  for 
the  good  foundation-work  done  by  the  now  sainted  man  of  God 
yrho  preceded  me,  and  for  the  unusually  successful  ministry  of 
my  successor,  the  present  pastor,  by  whose  side  it  has  been 
my  happiness  to  live  in  a  constantly  growing  Christian  friend- 
ship, Avitnessing  his  indefatigable  eff"orts  to  advance  God's 
kingdom,  and  joying  in  the  blessed  results.  And  may  this 
spiritual  glory  of  the  past  be  but  as  the  morning's  dawning 
light,  while  the  midday  splendor  of  holiness  and  usefulness 
shall  be  still  in  the  future  I 


ADDRESS  ' 

OF 

REV.  J.  E.  ROY.  D.  D., 

AT  THE  EVENING  SERVICE  OF  THE 

QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE  FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH 

OF  CHICAGO. 


As  the  only  speaker  of  the  day  who  is  not  a  member  of 
this  church,  it  becomes  my  privilege  to  congratulate  you  upon 
the  dignity  of  this  history,  upon  the  felicity  of  this  occasion. 
Evidently  the  origin,  the  mission  of  this  church  was  a  plan  of 
God.     It  has  been  your  happiness  to  fall  into  that  plan. 

My  own  acquaintance  with  the  church  from  tJie  beginning, 
and  my  affinity  with  its  spirit  and  life,  have  endeared  it  to  me 
as  much  as  though  I  had  been  a  member.  In  the  Seminary 
at  New  York  I  learned  of  its  organization.  Upon  Henry 
Ward  Beecher's  nomination  of  Rev.  J.  M.  Davis  as  just  the 
man  for  the  place,  I  reported  the  name  and  he  was  elected  to 
the  Pastorate,  which  he  declined,  as  Dr.  Goodwin  has  reported. 
He  afterward  became  the  first  Pastor  of  the  Plymouth  Church. 
At  the  Albany  Convention,  in  1852,  Deacon  Carpenter  wislied 
me  to  leave  my  senior  year  and  come  on  to  this  work.  I  could 
not  shorten  my  course.  Coming  back,  after  graduation,  in 
June,  1853,  I  found  Rev.  J.  M.  Williams  in  the  Pastorate, 
and  preached  once  in  the  original  house  of  worship.  That 
night  the  house   was   burned    down.     The    theory  of  incen- 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  57 

diarism  which  made  my  green  seminary  sermon  the  cause  was 
never  confirmed.  Though  I  confess  that,  as  I  looked  at  the 
old  manuscript  this  morning,  it  bore  a  very  smoky  appearance, 
which  still  gives  a  color  to  that  theory. 

Coming,  in  the  fall  of  1855,  after  tw6  years  of  home  mis- 
sionary service,  to  the  Pastorate  of  the  Plymouth  Church,  I 
found  Rev.  George  M.  Perkins  the  Pastor  here,  and  at  my  in- 
stallation he  gave  me  the  right  hand  of  fellowship.  The 
church  was  busy  in  finishing  oft"  the  stone  edifice  on  Green 
street.  On  the  dedication  day,  I  was  with  Brother  Perkins. 
He  preached  the  first  and  I  the  second  sermon.  It  was  an 
high  day  with  this  people.  During  that  winter  we  had  the 
Evangelist,  Rev.  John  T.  Avery,  first  in  the  Plymouth  Church, 
and  then  in  the  First.  A  glorious  revival  was  enjoyed  in 
each  congregation.  Its  result,  in  the  maturing  of  Christian 
character  and  in  the  conversion  of  souls,  is  manifest  to  this  day. 
I  count  in  your  Manual  the  names  of  thirty-nine  persons  then 
brought  in  on  confession  of  faith — among  them  our  dear 
brethren,  T.  M.  Avery,  John  C.  Wiswell,  J.  M.  Williams.  F. 
S.  Hanson  and  L,  M.  Holbrook. 

In  the  summer  vacation.  Brother  Perkins  and  I  took  our 
respite  together  in  a  cruise  through  the  Lake  Superior  regions. 
Upon  his  return  he  remarked  to  his  wife  that  he  considered 
himself  good  for  fifteen  yej^rs  more  of  pastoral  work.  In  two 
months  he  was  smitten  down,  and,  as  we  stood  by  his  dying 
bed,  the  beloved  physician.  Dr.  Hollister,  who  had  loved  him 
dearly,  was  bathed  in  tears.  But  a  post  mortem  gave  the 
satisfaction  that  no  human  skill  could  have  saved  him.  The 
funeral  service  was  held  in  the  afternoon  of  the  Lord's  Day, 
in  the  church.  The  clergy  of  the  city  were  present  in  a  body 
as  I  have  never  seen  them  on  any  other  such  occasion.  The 
members  of  the  other  churches  felt  bereaved  along  with  the 
people  of  this  congregation.  President  Blanchard  preached 
the  sermon.  By  the  request  of  the  Church,  on  the  next  Sab- 
bath, the  Plymouth  Pastor  preached  for  them  another  com- 
memorative discourse. 


68  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

I  wish  here  to  say  that,  in  my  judgment,  the  encomium  put 
upon  its  records  by  this  Church,  as  referred  to  by  the  Pastor 
this  morning,  was  just.  Mr.  Perkins  was  a  pleasing  preacher. 
He  excelled  in  the  preliminary  exposition  of  the  Word. 
Though  a  man  of  gray  hairs,  he  was  especially  attractive  to 
young  people.  He  had  a  sort  of  spiritual  loadstone,  by 
which  he  readily  found  out  and  drew  out  the  isolated  families 
that  get  lodged  in  the  drift  of  a  city.  An  anti-slavery  re- 
former, he  had  a  spirit  of  charity  for  those  who  did  not  agree 
with  him  in  opinion.  I  remember  hearing  him  say  how 
strange  it  seemed  to  him,  coming  from  the  abolition  battles 
in  Connecticut,  to  find  a  people  here  and  hereabouts  so  com- 
pletely in  accord  with  himself.  Dr.  Goodwin  referred  to  his 
connection  with  the  opening  of  the  Chicago  Theological  Semi- 
nary. It  should  also  be  said  that  his  excellent  pastoral  library, 
by  his  bequest,  became  the  beginning  of  the  library  of  the 
Seminary.  No  Pastor,  ripe  in  the  wisdom  of  experience, 
could  be  more  generously  helpful  to  a  young  Pastor,  and  with- 
out a  particle  of  patronizing,  than  was  he  to  me  ;  and  so  I 
loved  him  greatly. 

When,  very  soon,  Dr.  Patton  was  called  to  the  vacant  pul- 
pit, it  was  devolved  upon  me  to  give  him  the  right  hand  of 
fellowship  ;  and  when  he  arose  to  receive  it,  that  was  the  first 
view  of  his  face  which  the  congregation  had  had,  for,  having 
inquired  of  the  Lord,  they  had  called  him,  and  were  to  install 
him,  before  hearing  him  preach. 

That  was  the  Heroic  Period  of  this  Church,  as  described 
this  morning.  I  remember  well  those  meetings  on  the  Fourth 
of  July,  to  pray  that  God  would  make  that  a  day  of  rejoicing 
to  the  oppressed  of  our  land — a  strange  incongruity,  praying 
on  the  day  of  liberty  for  the  slaves  of  our  country.  The  idea  of 
calling  that  meeting  to  memorialize  President  Lincoln,  and  the 
drafting  of  that  memorial,  were  from  the  brain  and  the  pen  of 
the  then  Pastor  of  this  Church,  who,  in  company  with  the  vene- 
rated Dr.  Dempster,  of  the  Evanston  Biblical  Institute,  bore  it  to 
Washington.     When  Dr.  Patton  came  home,  he  set  his  Church 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  59 

to  praying,  in  a  special  daily  prayer  meeting,  for  the  success 
of  that  memorial,  expecting  that  the  Proclamation  would  come. 
And  while  they  were  praying  the  answer  came — the  Proclama- 
tion appearing  here  in  the  same  paper  which  contained  the 
report  of  the  delegation.  At  that  time  Mr.  Medill  reported 
to  me  that  message  of  Secretary  Stanton  :  ''Tell  those  Chi- 
cago Doctors  that  their  interview  did  the  business ;  that  up  to 
that  time  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  wavering." 

When  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln  came,  Dr.  Pat- 
ton  was  along  with  the  army  as  an  officer  of  the  Sanitary  Com- 
mission of  the  Northwest,  and  I  had  been  engaged  to  supply 
his  pulpit  for  the  Sabbath.  Bringing  in  a  sermon,  prepared 
for  the  occasion,  upon  the  text :  "  The  Lord  alone  shall  be 
exalted  in  that  day,"  I  met  at  the  door  Rev.  H.  L.  Hammond 
and  requested  him  to  go  into  the  pulpit  and  assist  me  in  the 
service.  He  declined,  giving  as  a  reason,  that  he  could  not 
trust  his  emotions.  That  was  the  state  of  mind  in  the  w^hole 
congregation.  I  never  witnessed  such  a  power  of  feeling 
before  or  since.  It  was  the  swaying  of  the  forest  under  a 
mighty  wind.  It  was  a  grand  swell  of  righteous  indignation  ; 
it  was  a  wail  of  grief. 

At  the  installation  of  the  present  Pastor,  it  was  made  my 
duty  to  give  him  the  charge  of  the  churches;  and  this  it  was, 
in  substance  :  ''You  are  an  Ambassador;  remember  what  you 
are,  whom  you  serve;  and  act  in  character."  You,  your- 
selves, know  how  his  pastoral  experience  has  lain  along 
by  the  side  of  that  of  the  Apostle :  "  Now,  then,  we  are  Am- 
bassadors for  Christ,  as  though  God  did  beseech  you  by  us ; 
we  pray  you  in  Christ's  stead;  be  ye  reconciled  to  God." 

It  was  my  pleasure  to  attend  the  farewell  meeting  in  the 
old  Green  Street  Church,  when  you  were  expecting  the  return 
of  Brother  Goodwin  from  abroad  to  join  you  in  dedicating 
the  holy  and  beautiful  house  which,  on  this  site,  was  burned 
with  fire.  That  was  a  thrilling  meeting,  and  the  most  moving 
testimony  of  all  was  that  of  Brother  T.  M.  Avery,  who  spoke 
for  himself  and  for  others  who  had  found  that  house  their 
spiritual  birthplace. 


€0  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

Your  Committee  requested  me,  besides  any  reminiscences 
I  might  furnish,  to  present  the  local  and  western  growth  of 
Congregationalism  within  this  quarter  of  a  century. 

This  is  the  first  Congregational  Church  of  Chicago,  and 
it  is  only  twenty-five  years  old.  You  noticed  how  meager  was 
the  Council  reported  by  Dr.  Goodwin  for  the  organizing  of 
this  Church — three  or  four  country  churches,  and  these  off  at 
a  distance  of  from  twenty-five  to  forty  miles  from  Chicago. 
And  now  you  have  in  the  city  alone  a  sisterhood  of  hvelve  of 
these  churches  of  the  Puritan  way — our  Plymouth,  and  New 
England,  and  Union  Park,  and  Tabernacle,  and  Lincoln  Park, 
and  Oakland,  and  Bethany,  and  Leavitt  Street,  and  Wicker 
Park,  and  Clinton  Street  and  Forty-seventh  Street. 

Besides  these,  in  the  suburbs  that  belong  to  Chicago  there 
have  come  up  our  Congregational  Churches  at  Ravenswood, 
at  Evanston,  at  Wilmette,  at  Winnetka,  at  Glencoe,  at  Jeffer- 
son, at  Park  Ridge,  at  Des  Plaines,  at  Oak  Park,  at  Maywood, 
at  Lombard,  at  Prospect  Park,  at  Wheaton,  at  Hinsdale,  at 
Blue  Island,  at  South  Chicago — sixteen  of  them. 

Within  two  years  after  the  organization  of  this  Church, 
the  Chicago  Association  was  organized  with  four  churches — 
the  First,  the  Plymouth  and  the  New  England  of  this  city, 
and  the  Free  Church  of  Ottawa,  drawn  these  eighty-six  miles 
by  anti-slavery  sympathy.  And  now  the  Chicago  Association 
embraces  tldrty-four  churches,  besides  the  Independent 
churches  at  Chicago  Avenue  (Brother  Moody's),  at  Central 
Park  and  at  Washington  Heights,  which  are  in  affinity  with 
us,  making  tldrty-eight,  in  all. 

Then,  on  the  field  this  side  of  Fox  River,  from  which  this 
Church  gleaned  to  get  its  little  organizing  Council,  there  are 
also  twelve  other  churches  connected  with  other  associations, 
which  make,  in  all,  fifty  churches,  where  then  there  were  but 
half  a  dozen.  The  development  of  our  Congregational 
Herald  and  of  our  Advance,  of  the  Chicago  Theological  Semi- 
nary and  of  Wheaton  College  within  these  bounds  and  within 
this  time,  is  also  a  part  of  this  twenty-five  years  of  history. 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHUHCH.  61 

Taking  in  the  broader  range  of  our  State,  we  find  that 
since  your  church  was  formed,  there  have  been  organized  in 
Illinois  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  churches.  In  the  fifteen 
years  since  our  Presbyterian  brethren  withdrew  from  the 
American  Home  Missionary  Society,  Illinois  has  set  up  eighty- 
jive  of  these  churches,  and  has  built  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
four  houses  of  worship. 

Going  out  to  the  still  wider  fiehl  of  the  West,  we  find  that 
since  your  church  took  on  organic  life,  our  churches  have 
increased  in  number  from^y^  hundred  to  sixteen  hundred.  So 
that  eleven  hundred  of  these  sister  churches  in  the  Interior 
and  the  West  have  yet  to  attain,  with  you,  the  dignity  of  a 
Quarter  Centennial  Celebration. 

Then  consider  that  within  these  same  years,  along  with 
these  churches,  and  developed  by  them,  have  come  up  a  coterie 
of  Christian  colleges,  a  vast  evangelizing,  elevating  power. 
These  are  our  Olivet,  and  Wheaton,  and  Ripon  ;  and  Carleton, 
in  Minnesota ;  and  Washburn,  in  Kansas ;  and  Doane,  in 
Nebraska  ;  and  Thayer  and  Drury,  in  Missouri ;  and  Color- 
ado ;  and  the  Pacific,  in  Oregon ;  and  the  Pacific  Theological 
Seminary  in  California. 

Brethren,  I  was  touched  this  morning  by  the  fact  that, 
in  your  scheme  of  benevolent  contributions,  the  thank  oflFering 
of  this  commemorative  occasion  was  to  be  in  behalf  of  home 
missions,  and  further  by  the  generous  pastoral  endorsement  of 
this  cause,  to  which  I  know  you  all  responded  in  your  hearts. 
Now  it  is  my  pleasure  to  express  to  you  the  thanks  of  the  Ameri- 
can Home  Missionary  Society  for  your  remembrance  of  this 
cause.  I  find  that,  in  the  fifteen  years  of  my  superintendency, 
you  have  contributed  to  this  treasury  the  sum  of  $5,136.70; 
which  is  an  average,  per  year,  of  $342.45.  This,  I  suppose, 
is  not  more  than  a  tithe  of  the  amount  you  have  put  into  pure 
home  mission  work,  by  way  of  aiding  mission  schools  and  feeble 
churches  in  the  city. 

You  will  be  glad,  also,  to  learn  of  the  relation  of  this  home 
mission  work  to  the  developement  of  Congregational  Churches, 


62  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL. 

of  which  I  have  already  spoken.  T-\velve  of  these  thirty-four 
churches  within  the  Chicago  Association  have  thus  been  helped 
on  to  self  support — conspicuous  among  these  being  those  of 
Oak  Park,  Jeflferson,  Lombard,  Blue  Island,  Woodstock  and 
Lincoln  Park,  while  seven  of  them  are  still  receiving  supple- 
mental aid.  And  of  the  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  churches 
organized  within  the  last  twenty-five  years,  in  Illinois,  prob- 
acy three-fourths  have  been  for  a  time  beneficiaries  of  this 
Home  Mission  Almoner.  It  has  been  a  profitable  sowing — an 
early  reaping,  in  order  to  get  other  broad-casting  and  har- 
vesting. 

"How  old  art  thou?"  inquired  the  monarch  of  the  shep- 
herd patriarch.  His  answer  implied  that  there  was  a  double 
measurement  of  life — one  by  years,  and  one  by  experiences. 
Length  of  days  may  indicate  a  very  short  life  upon  the  measure 
of  thoughts  and  feelings  ;  and  a  Avell  rounded  life  may  have 
been  attained  in  a  few  years.  Our  nation  is  attracting  the 
attention  of  the  civilized  world  in  the  celebration  of  its  Cen- 
tennial.  This  may  seem  somewhat  assuming  to  the  people  of 
Iceland,  who  have  already  celebrated  their  millennium  of 
national  life  ;  to  Japan,  which  counts  back  in  an  unbroken 
line  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  three  monarchs,  to  six  hun- 
dred years  before  Christ ;  and  to  China,  which  claims  a  govern- 
mental continuity  back  for  four  thousand  years.  But  it  will 
scarcely  be  questioned  that  this  Christian  America  has  already 
lived  as  long  as  any  of  them  if  taken  upon  the  measurement 
of  moral  progress. 

Your  Quarter  Centennial  seems  to  have  had  compressed  into 
it  a  century  of  ordinary  easy-going  experience.  Some  of  these 
young  men  who  identified  their  life  with  that  of  Christ  in  this 
church,  at  its  very  organization,  have  already  lived  as  long  as 
Methuselah  lived,  if  their  life  be  estimated  upon  the  scale  of 
influence  upon  humanity,  upon  the  world. 

The  Lord  give  you  that  ye  may  have  such  life,  and  that  ye 
may  have  it  more  abundantly. 


ADDRESS 

OF 

HON.    W.    W.    FARWELL, 

AT  THK  EVENING  SERVICE  OF  THE 

QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE  FIRST  GONGREGATIOHAL  CHURCH 

OF  CHICAGO. 


Christian  Friends  : 

The  Committee  having  in  charge  the  arrangement  of  the 
exercises  for  this  evening,  thought  it  best  to  call  upon  some 
old  member  of  the  Church  to  say  a  few  words  to  you,  and, 
for  some  reason  best  known  to  themselves,  selected  me  for 
that  service.  I  do  not  claim  to  be  exempt  either  on  account 
of  age  or  want  of  age,  either  in  life  or  in  membership,  but  I 
am  not  conscious  of  any  special  qualifications  for  so  con- 
spicuous a  position  :  and  I  mistrust  that  the  main  reason  why 
I  now  stand  before  you,  is,  that  no  other  venerable  brother 
could  be  found  who  would  undertake  to  stand  here.  However 
that  may  be,  I  consented  to  do  as  requested ;  for  I  do  not  feel 
at  liberty,  on  an  occasion  like  this,  to  refuse  to  speak  if  others 
are  content  to  listen.  But,  for  fear  you  may  feel  anxious  or 
tired  in  advance,  I  promise  you  that  I  will  do  the  best  I  can 
under  the  circumstances,  and  that,  at  any  rate,  I  will  not  detain 
you  long. 

This  being  a  day  calling  for  personal  recollections,  I  may 
be  permitted  to  speak  of  my  own,  as  connected  with  this 
Church. 


64  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

I  came  with  my  Avife  to  Chicago  to  reside  in  the  fall  of 
1854.  We  were  acquainted  with  several  of  the  members  of 
this  Church,  having  known  them  at  the  East,  and  we  resided 
not  far  from  its  place  of  worship,  and  would,  therefore, 
naturally  have  inclined  to  unite  here.  But  there  was  another 
reason  inducing  me  to  join.  I  happened  to  entertain  decided 
anti-slavery  views,  and  my  sympathies  were  with  those  who 
labored  and  suffered  in  that  cause.  When  a  boy  at  school  at 
Clinton,  N.  Y.,  I  had  become  interested  in  the  rising  strife, 
and  attended,  as  a  delegate,  the  Convention  of  the  New  York 

State  Anti-Slavery  Society,  held  at  Utica, ,  1835. 

A  mob  broke  up  the  meeting  and  the  Convention  withdrew  to 
Peterboro,  on  the  invitation  of  Gerrit  Smith,  who  then  enlisted 
to  serve  during  the  war,  and  who  fought  so  faithfully  and 
effectually  to  the  end. 

Such  being  my  view^s,  I  became  interested  in  this  Church 
on  account  of  the  causes  which  had  led  to  its  formation,  and 
the  general  views  of  its  members.  We  were  regular  attend- 
ants upon  its  services  from  our  arrival,  and  united  by  letter 
in  October,  1855. 

So  much  by  way  of  what  is  personal. 

Let  us  now  come  to  the  matter  in  hand.  The  question 
suggests  itself:  Is  it  worth  the  while  for  us  to  hold  these 
special  services  ?  Is  there  any  call  for  such  a  demonstration  ? 
Is  it  in  good  taste  ?  It  is  true  the  age  of  the  Church  is  not 
so  great  as  to  make  it  distinguished.  In  human  life,  a  quarter 
of  a  century  is  a  pretty  long  time.  It  makes  men  and  women 
of  boys  and  girls.  It  has  made  us  old  who  w^ere  then  in  middle 
life,  and  it  has  removed  from  among  us  many  who  were  then 
in  full  vigor.  But  we  ordinarily  suppose  that  a  Church,  if 
called  for  at  all,  is  to  continue  as  a  permanent  institution, 
commensurate  with  the  growth  and  wants  of  the  community. 
If  it  cannot  live  twenty-five  years,  that  is  evidence  that,  per- 
haps, it  would  have  been  as  well  if  it  had  never  been  born.  If 
it  is  found  alive  and  doing  well  on  its  twenty-fifth  birthday, 
we  may  feel  thankful  that  it  has  escaped  the  perils  of  infancy., 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  05 

but  can  scarcely  expect  to  create  any  great  enthusiasm  based 
upon  its  age. 

But  there  is  another  view  which  we  mtiy  take  of  this  mat- 
ter, calcuhited  to  justify  the  services  of  this  day.  We  live  in 
a  new  city  and  in  a  new  country.  We  find  ourselves  called 
upon  to  found  the  institutions  of  the  future ;  to  sow  the  seed 
wliich  shall  determine  the  harvests  of  those  who  shall  come 
after  us ;  to  plant  the  trees  which  shall  afford  food  and  shelter 
and  ornament  to  a  long  line  of  generations.  It  is  difficult  to 
conceive  of  any  work  more  important.  Those  who  are  thus 
called  upon  to  organize  ttre  institutions  of  a  country,  to  found 
its  churches  and  schools  and  charities,  to  frame  its  laws,  to 
put  in  running  order  and  set  in  motion  the  complicated  ma- 
chinery of  civilized  life,  have  a  work  to  perform  calling  for 
the  exercise  of  the  highest  qualities  of  head  and  heart.  Let 
us  never  forget  this,  nor  prove  faithless  or  unequal  to  this  high 
trust.  We  have  something  to  do  here  besides  getting  food 
and  raiment,  and  comfortable  homes  and  stylish  equipage  for 
ourselves  and  those  near  to  us.  Our  great  aim  should  not 
be  to  enjoy  ourselves,  to  have  a  good  time,  but  rather  to  listen 
to  the  still,  small  voice  of  conscience  and  of  God,  to  obey  that 
voice,  and  to  endeavor  to  so  live  and  labor,  that  the  world  may 
be  better  from  our  having  lived  in  it. 

Viewing  the  subject  in  this  light,  we  perceive  that  when 
Christian  men  and  women,  in  a  new  city  or  new  country,  or- 
ganize themselves  into  a  Christian  Church,  and  give  to  that 
Church  their  time  and  money,  and  prayers  and  labors,  and 
nurse  it  into  strength  and  mature  vigor,  so  that  it  seems  to  be 
an  established  and  permanent  institution  in  the  community, 
they  have  performed  an  important  work,  and  may  be  excused 
in  rejoicing,  not  in  any  spirit  of  vanity  or  self-laudation,  but 
because  they  are  allowed  to  believe  that  their  labor  has  not 
been  in  vain,  and  that  present  prosperity  is  a  sign  of  some- 
thing better  yet  to  come. 

We  celebrate  the  founding  of  a  Congregational  Church. 
What  is  a  Church  ?     The  Roman  Catholics  sav  there  is  but 


66  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

one  genuine,  legitimate  and  true  church,  to  wit,  themselves,  or 
their  church  ;  and  they  profess  to  be  able  to  trace  back  their 
title  by  a  clean  abstract  to  St.  Peter  and  our  Lord.  Some 
other  sects  or  great  divisions  of  Christians  take  the  s^me  gen- 
eral view  as  to  the  importance  of  being  able  to  show  regular 
and  unbroken  Apostolical  ordination  and  succession,  but  deny 
the  exclusive  claim  of  the  Roman  Church.  They  say  that  the 
ecclesiastical  tree,  although  having  but  one  trunk,  has  a  num- 
ber of  great  branches,  all  equally  genuine,  if  not  equally 
fruitful  or  flourishing.  The  great  body  of  Protestant  Chris- 
tians take  an  entirely  different  view  of  this  matter.  They 
deny  that  the  historical  evidence  adduced  sustains  the  claims 
of  these  legitimists ;  and  they  deny  that  a  mere  paper  title  is 
of  much  importance,  however  regular  it  may  appear  to  be 
upon  its  face.  They  think  that  Cliristianity  must  depend,  in 
the  long  run,  for  its  permanence  and  power,  not  upon  any  one 
church,  however  venerable  or  powerful,  nor  upon  shoots 
springing  from  it,  nor  upon  grafting  or  transplanting,  but 
upon  the  good  seed  of  truth,  sown  in  the  hearts  of  men  and 
quickened  to  life  and  growth  by  the  rains  and  smiles  and 
breath  of  Heaven  ;  and  that  in  this  way  alone  is  the  world  to 
witness,  from  age  to  age,  and  through  all  time,  the  ever- 
recurring  miracle  of  the  youth,  and  beauty  and  strength  of  the 
first  creation. 

We  celebrate  the  founding,  not  of  the  Church,  but  simply 
of  a  Church.  Before  coming  here  this  evening,  I  took  pains 
to  look  up  a  definition  of  the  word,  as  we  understand  it;  and 
in  the  American  Encyclopedia  (Vol.  5,  p.  242)  I  found  this, 
which  seems  to  be  a  correct  one,  and  I  copied  it  to  read  to 
you.      It  is  as  follows  : 

"Congregationalists  define  a  Church  to  be  an  organization  of  professed 
believers,  stated/;/    meeting   in  one  place,  and  united  together  by  covenant  for 
'mutual  uatchfulness  and  edification,  for  the  maintenance  of  divine  icorship  a7id 
the  observance  of  Christian  ordinances.'' 

That  describes  us.  We  know  that  the  great  majority  of 
Christians  (using   this  word   in  its   coni])reliensive    meaning) 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURfH.  f.T 

look  with  anxiety,  and  often  with  ahirm,  upon  such  sporadic 
developments  of  Christianity,  and  they  fear  and  prophesy  the 
worst  of  consequences.  At  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  the 
Roman  Catholics  labored  with  Luther  and  liis  associates  to 
prevent  secession,  and  promised  reformation  of  abuses  if  they 
would  abide  within  the  fold.  They  held  the  Council  of  Trent 
and  actually  did  much  good  work  in  the  way  of  reform.  They 
predicted  the  most  serious  evils  to  follow  from  Protestantism. 
They  said  that  what  was  called  religious  liberty  would  prove 
to  be  ungodly  license ;  that  the  misguided  children  who 
should  revolt  against  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the  Holy 
Mother  Church  would  soon  fall  by  the  ears  among  themselves, 
and  would  worry  and  devour  each  other,  and  would  bring  a 
reproach  upon  the  cause  of  Christ  and  ruin  upon  tlieir  own 
souls.  The  event  seems  to  have  proved  that  these  fears 
were  not  well  founded.  Protestants  differ,  but  they  do  not 
quarrel.  Religion  seems  to  flourish,  though  ecclesiasticiem 
may  languish.  Life  and  strength  are  not  dependent  upon  a 
dull  and  enforced  uniformity,  but  upon  liberty  and  an  en- 
lightened Christian  conscience. 

So,  also,  as  to  the  separation  of  Church  and  State,  and  the 
voluntary  system  for  church  support.  The  advocates  of  the 
old  order  of  things  w^e  of  opinion  that  the  voluntary  system 
would  not  answer  the  purpose ;  that  the  tax  collector,  armed 
with  the  authority  of  the  civil  government,  must  collect  the 
funds  required  for  the  support  of  Christian  worship  and  for 
the  various  departments  of  church  benevolence:  that  the 
Church,  unsuppcu-ted  by  the  law  of  the  land,  would  shrivel 
and  languish,  and  fall  into  contempt,  and  would  be  compelled 
to  withdraw  from  its  great  labors,  and  to  give  up  its  imposing 
demonstrations.  But  the  friends  of  freedom  were  not  con- 
vinced, and  they  insisted  upon  trying  the  experiment,  and  the 
result  proves  that  they  Avere  right  about  it.  ''  God  loveth  the 
cheerful  giver."  To  give  cheerfully,  we  must  give  voluntarily. 
The  great  body  of  independent  Protestants  show  themselves 
ready  to  bear  all  reasonable  burthens.      The  churches  gen- 


68  QUARTER-CEXTENNIAL  OF   THE 

erally  give  liberally  according  to  their  means,  and,  as  we 
happen  to  know,  in  many  cases  run  in  debt  to  the  extent  of 
their  ability. 

So  as  to  the  matter  of  church  government  and  discipline. 
Our  Presbyterian  brethren  commit  these  important  matters  to 
the  Church  Session,  composed  of  the  Pastor  and  ruling  Elders, 
with  the  right  of  appeal  to  Presbytery,  Synod  and  General  As- 
sembly. On  the  other  hand,  we  adopt  the  plan  of  self-govern- 
ment by  the  church  itself,  calling  upon  brethren  and  Pastors 
of  sister  churches  to  advise  us  in  cases  of  difficulty.  Proba- 
bly both  methods  are  Scriptural  enough.  Each  has  its  ad- 
vantages and  disadvantages,  as  compared  with  the  other.  Ours 
has  worked  well  in  practice.  There  is  no  complicated  ma- 
chinery about  it.  It  is  in  accordance  with  the  democratic 
character  of  our  political  institutions.  It  is  satisfactory  to  the 
members.  Under  it  we  have  got  along  quite  harmoniously  in 
the  past,  and  have  no  fears  but  that  it  will  serve  our  turn  for 
the  future  quite  as  well  as  any  that  we  could  agree  upon. 

This  is  our  Christian  home.  We  come  here  with  out 
children  and  our  children's  children,  to  unite  with  any  disciples 
of  our  Lord  who  care  to  join  us  in  our  simple  worship.  We 
listen  to  the  preached  word,  and  study  the  written  word,  with 
no  superstitious  fears  or  blind  credulity,  but  with  a  sincere 
desire  to  learn  the  truth  and  to  communicate  it  to  others.  We 
endeavor  to  exemplify,  in  some  faint  way  at  least,  the  divine 
religion  which  we  profess,  keeping  watch  over  one  another, 
helping  one  another,  rejoicing  with  those  who  rejoice,  and 
weeping  with  those  who  weep,  endeavoring  "  to  do  justly,  and 
to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly,"  and  coming  with  con- 
fidence to  our  heavenly  Father,  who  graciously  leads  us  to 
Himself  through  His  Son  our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ, 
and  through  the  influence  of  the  blessed  Spirit. 

We  make  no  pretensions  to  infallibility  in  doctrine  or  per- 
fection in  life.  We  fellowship  Christians  of  whatever  name 
or  denomination,  and  bid  "■  God  speed"  to  all  who  are  engaged 
in   our   Master's   service.     We  do   not  profess  to  be  a  mere 


FIRST   CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  69 

mutual  aid  society,  and  vfe  hope  we  shall  not  become  a  mutual 
admiration  society.  We  are  united,  if  at  all,  by  reason  of 
some  common  resemblance  to  Him  who  is  the  author  and 
finisher  of  our  faith. 

In  conclusion,  I  wish  to  say  that  I  like  this  church,  for  I 
find  here  religious  liberty  and  Christian  harmony.  We  do 
not  all  look  alike,  or  dress  alike,  or  think  alike  ;  nor  is  there 
any  probability  that  we  ever  shall.  We  all  assent  to  the  same 
creed,  but  there  are  statements  in  it  which  we  do  not  all  under- 
stand precisely  alike,  and  which,  perha.ps,  some  of  us  do  not 
understand  at  all.  As  for  myself,  I  confess  my  ignorance  and 
my  want  of  reliable  information  or  clearly  defined  notions^ 
on  many  interesting  questions,  but  I  endeavor  to  listen  with 
candor,  and  to  search  with  diligence,  and  to  be  cautious  in 
doubting  as  well  as  in  believing.  I  do  not  know  where  heaven 
is,  or  where  hell  is  ;  nor  do  I  know  of  any  way  of  finding  out 
anything  about  it  in  this  life.  I  am  not  sure  as  I  have  any 
correct  conception  as  to  how  either  of  those  places  really  look, 
or  as  to  how  their  inhabitants  are  occupied'.  I  do  not  know 
how  Jesus  looked,  nor  am  I  aware  that  any  one  else  knows  any 
more  about  it  than  I  do,  whatever  poets  and  artists  may 
represent  to  the  contrary.  But  what  of  all  that  ?  ]May  I  not 
still  be  a  genuine  Christian  ?  NotAvithstanding  all  my  ignorance 
and  all  my  weakness,  I  allow  myself  to  entertain  the  hope  that 
I  may  at  last  hear  the  welcome  words,  •'  Well  done  good  and 
faithful  servant."  That  hope  is  not  based  upon  my  ability  to 
understand  the  mysteries,  nor  upon  my  readiness  to  assent  to  a 
creed,^nor  upon  any  selfish  desire  to  secure  happiness  for  my- 
self, or  to  escape  misery,  either  in  this  world  or  in  the  world 
to  come ;  nor  upon  any  miraculous  assurance  that  whatever 
may  become  of  others,  I  am  safe.  I  base  it,  under  God, 
upon  this  reflection  :  that  when  I  was  a  mere  lad  I  heard  a 
voice  speaking  to  me,  as  it  has  spoken  to  so  many  others,  from 
pious  Abel  to  the  present  hour,  saying,  '"  My  son,  give  me  thy 
heart."  I  listened.  I  trembled,  I  believe  I  obeyed  ;  for  from 
that  hour  to  this  I  have  never  been  afraid  or  ashamed  to  do  mv 


70  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL. 

duty.  I  did  not  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the  cry  of  the  skive  when 
there  were  none  to  help  him.  I  have  never  hesitated  to  speak 
when  it  wouhl  be  cowardly  or  criminal  to  be  silent.  But  this 
is  not  all.  I  may  venture  to  mention  one  other  reflection 
which  encourages  me  to  indulge  this  hope.  As  I  read  in  the 
Gospels  the  clear  and  unadorned  and  unpretentious  statement 
of  many  things  done  and  said  by  Jesus,  I  feel  myself  drawn 
toward  Him  with  an  admiring  love,  and  I  at  such  times  feel 
confident  that,  if  it  had  been  my  lot  to  live  in  His  day,  and  to 
have  seen  and  heard  Him  who  spoke  as  no  other  man  has  ever 
spoken,  and  who  did  what  no  other  man  has  ever  done,  I 
should  not  have  been  indifferent,  nor  have  taken  sides  with  his 
enemies.  I  believe  that  His  voice  would  have  awakened  a 
responsive  echo  within  my  soul,  and  that  I  should  have  obeyed 
the  divine  call,  and  should  not  have  been  ashamed  to  be 
pointed  out  as  one  of  the  disciples  of  the  despised  (jalileean. 

But  it  is  time  for  me  to  stop.  I  have  said  more  than  I 
intended — perhaps  more  than  I  should.  As  a  parting  word 
allow  me  to  express  the  hope  that  the  Quarter  Centennial  of 
this  church  will  be  many  times  observed,  and  always  with 
increasing  interest ;  that  many  of  you  may  take  part  in  the 
observance  of  the  next ;  that  you  will  then  have  a  tear  for  the 
memories  of  the  past  as  well  as  a  smile  for  the  hopes  of  the 
future  ;  and  that  each  of  us,  when  dismissed  by  death  from  this 
church  militant,  may  be  admitted  into  full  fellowship  with  the 
church  triumphant. 


STATISTICAL   STATEMENT, 

i;v 

J.   W.    SYKES,   Cierk   of  the   Church. 


In  the  quarter  of  a  centurv  which  expires  May  22,  1876, 
the  First  Congregational  Church  of  Chicago  has  received  to 
its  membership  2.025  persons.  The  Constituting  Council 
received  15  of  these  without  letters,  their  names  having 
been  erased  from  the  roll  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  letters  not  being  obtainable.  In  these  statistics  these 
persons  are  treated  as  being  received  by  letter. 

Of  the  2,025  persons  received,  819  have  been  males  and 
1,206  females  ;  perhaps  a  larger  proportion  of  males  than 
usually  obtains  in  church  membership. 

Of  the  males,  299  united  on  profession  and  520  by  letter. 

Of  the  females,  446  were  received  on  profession  and  760 
by  letter. 

The  whole  number  received  on  profession  is  745,  and  by 
letter  1,280. 

For  the  first  three  years  and  eight  months  of  the  history 
of  the  Church  it  had  irregular  or  stated  supplies,  but  no 
Pastor.  During  that  time,  26  persons  were  received  on  pro- 
fession and  122  by  letter ;  in  all  148.  The  year  1854  is  the 
only  one  during  this  time,  and  the  only  one  during  the  twenty- 
five  years,  in  which  there  were  no  accessions  on  profession. 

On  January  4, 1855,  Rev.  (jeorge  W.  Perkins  was  installed, 
and  he  died  after  a  pastorate  of  but  one  year  and  ten  months. 
We  are  unable  to  discover  what  the  membership  of  the  Church 
was  at  his  installation,  but  a  year  after  that  time  we  find  re- 
ported 135.     The  Church  was  prosperous  during  Mr.  Perkins' 


72  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 

term,  and  received  49  on  profession  and  71  by  letter ;  in  all 
120. 

In  less  than  two  months  after  Mr.  Perkins'  death,  Rev. 
W.  W.  Patton  was  installed,  January  8,  1857.  His  pastorate 
reached  ten  years  and  six  months,  and  he  supplied  the  pulpit 
for  six  months  after  his  dismissal.  He  found  a  membership 
of  198.  During  his  pastorate,  the  Church,  through  him,  wel- 
comed 300  persons  on  profession  and  476  by  letter  ;  in  all 
776.  The  smallest  number  received  any  year  on  profession 
is  7,  in  1861,  and  the  smallest  by  letter  is  28,  in  1859.  The 
largest  number  received  on  profession  is  93,  in  1858,  and  by 
letter  62,  in  1857.  And  the  yearly  average  is  about  30  on 
profession  and  about  47  by  letter  ;  in  all  77.  In  no  year  did 
the  total  accessions  run  below  38,  or  above  152. 

During  the  whole  of  Dr.  Patton's  term,  except  when 
abroad,  he  served  the  Church  as  Clerk  and  did  great  service, 
not  only  in  preserving  the  current  history  of  the  Church,  but, 
so  far  as  it  could  be  done,  reviving  the  record  of  the  preceding 
years. 

During  the  six  months  between  the  end  of  Dr.  Patton's 
pastorate  and  the  installation  of  Rev.  E.  P.  Goodwin,  D.  D., 
the  Church  received  3  persons  on  profession  and  9  by  letter  ; 
total,  12. 

Dr.  Goodwin  was  installed  January  10,  1868,  and  has 
been  with  us  eight  years  and  four  months.  Dr.  Patton  found 
a  membership  of  198,  and  his  successor  found  542,  and  has 
since  then  welcomed  to  the  Church  on  profession  367  per- 
sons, and  by  letter  602;  in  all  969. 

The  smallest  number  received  in  any  year  by  Dr.  Good- 
win, on  profession,  is  16,  in  1870,  and  by  letter  55,  in  1875. 
The  largest  number  received  on  profession  is  66,  in  1869,  and 
by  letter  88,  in  the  same  year.  The  yearly  average  is  about 
46  on  profession,  and  75  by  letter ;  in  all  121  ;  and  the  total 
receptions  each  year  vary  between  84  and  154. 

During  both  pastorates,  the  tables  show  a  wonderful  con- 
stancy of  growth.     During  Dr.  Patton's  term,  perhaps,  it  was 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  73 

most  naturally  to  be  expected.  It  is  no  insignificant  testi- 
mony to  the  value  of  the  labors  of  our  present  Pastor  that  the 
impetus  given  to  the  Church  by  his  predecessor  should  not 
merely  have  been  maintained,  but  actually  have  been  con- 
siderably augmented.  The  carrying  a  Church  already  pos- 
sessing a  membership  of  542  up  to  a  thousand  in  eight  years' 
time,  is  proof  of  service  well  rendered  by  its  Pastor. 

In  Dr.  Goodwin's  term  there  have  been  but  seven  com- 
munion seasons  without  receptions  on  profession,  and  none 
without  accessions  by  letter.  During  Dr.  Patton's  service 
there  were  but  ten  communions  without  receptions  on  profes- 
sion, and  none  without  accessions  by  letter.  And,  in  fact, 
since  New  Year's,  1856 — more  than  twenty  years — there  has 
not  been  a  communion  without  new  members  presenting  let- 
ters, and  only  seventeen  that  have  not  witnessed  the  profes- 
sion of  faith  on  the  part  of  new  converts. 

For  the  preceding  five  years — the  first  of  the  Church — we 
do  not  know  how  often  the  communion  was  celebrated.  We 
do  know  of  seventeen  occasions,  and  at  all  of  these  there  were 
receptions  by  letter,  and  at  nine  of  them  on  profession. 

The  average  of  receptions  for  the  whole  twenty-five  years 
is  81  per  year  ;  29  4-5  received  on  profession  ;  f.1  1-5  by  letter. 

The  Church  has  lost  130  of  its  members  by  death.  It  has 
discharged  from  its  watch  and  care,  under  Rule  4,  one  person. 
It  has  excommunicated  15,  and  withdrawn  its  watch  and  care, 
in  a  milder  form,  from  14,  and  has  dismissed  854. 

Its  membership  now  numbers  1,011,  of  whom  401  are 
males  and  610  are  females.  And  of  these  we  know  the  where- 
abouts of  all  but  about  100. 

So  far  as  can  be  known,  this  Church  has  never  issued 
general  letters  of  dismissal,  but  has  always  dismissed  to  some 
specified  church,'^  Its  cases  of  discipline  have  always  been  con- 
ducted with  caution,  perfect  regularity  and  the  strictest  care 
for  the  rights  both  of  the  Church  and  the  offender. 

We  have  no  records  of  infant  baptisms  prior  to  Dr.  Patton's 
day,  but  he  baptized  214,  and  the  present  Pastor  has  baptized 
129;  total,  343. 


74  QUARTER-CENTENNIAL. 

*  Of  the  745  persons  received  on  profession,  227  were  then 
baptized,  so  that  518 — or  about  70  per  cent. — of  those  who 
confessed  their  faith  were  baptized  in  infancy. 

The  Church  has  taken  part  in  198  Councils  and  other  con- 
vocations of  the  churches.  It  has  assisted  in  organizing  '27 
new  churches  ;  has  been  represented  in  19  advisory  councils ; 
has  assisted  in  ordaining,  or  installing,  or  doing  both,  for  65 
Ministers,  and  has  helped  22  out  of  their  Pastorates. 

We  have  no  means  of  arriving  at  an  exact — or,  in  fact,  of 
making  any  approximate  statement  of  the  money  raised  by 
the  Church  and  the  Ecclesiastical  Society.  The  books  of  the 
Treasurer  of  the  Society  were  burned  in  the  great  fire,  and 
the  Society  has  not  been  in  the  habit  of  spreading  in  full  upon 
its  records  the  annual  reports  of  its  Trustees,  and  the  benevo- 
lent contributions  of  the  Church  are  recorded  only  for  a  por- 
tion of  its  existence. 

So  far  as  records  are  found  on  the  Church  books,  they  foot 
up  1161,923.87.  If  there  be  added  to  this  the  cost  of  the 
five  houses  of  worship  the  society  has  builded,  the  yearly  ex- 
penses of  the  society,  and  the  large  but  unknown  private  dona- 
tions of  the  members  of  the  Church,  the  aggregate  will  cer- 
tainly be  a  very  respectable  amount. 

Neither  are  we  able  to  give  statistics  of  the  Home  Sabbath 
School,  or  of  any  of  the  missions  this  Church  has  supported. 

The  reports  of  the  Home  school  on  the  Church  records 
for  the  last  three  years  show  an  average  enrollment  of  1,176, 
an  average  attendance  of  565,  and  an  average  amount  of 
$603.90  collected  per  year  at  the  sessions  of  the  school,  this 
not  including  money  procured  in  other  ways. 

Of  the  number  of  persons  received  into  the  Church  on  the 
profession  of  their  faith  since  January  1,  1873 — three  years 
and  four  months — a  trifle  over  55  per  cent^came  from  the 
Sabbath  school. 

[In  connection  with  the  above  statement,  the  following  table  is  offered. 
As  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Church  now  falls  upon  the  last  Wednesday 
evening  of  the  year,  this  table,  for  convenience,  follows  the  calendar  year. 
It,  however,  covers  a  period  of  just  twenty-tive  yeafs,  but  there  is  a  fraction 
of  a  year  at  each  end  ;] 


A    TABLE, 

SlIOWlNi;     THE     AcTESSIONS     TO     THE      FlR.ST     CoNfiRECATIDNAL      ChiR> 

Chicago,   at  each  Communion  Season  Since  its  Organization 
22,  1851. 


May  22, 
July  ... 
November 
December 

February.. 
March 


1854 
1855 


June 

November 


January. 
March.... 


July 

November 


November 
December.' 


February.. 
May  „ 


August.. 
October., 


January...! 
February..! 

May I  12 

July 1    2 

September  I 
November  i     3 


February. 


May 1 

July I  1 

August 1 

November ,  1 


19  i  29 

2!     6 


NUMBER    RE-  I    NUMBER     RE- 


CH    SE.\SON'.       EACH  YEAH 


TOTAL    RECEPT'NS 
AT  THE  END 
F    EACH   YEAR. 


Letter,*       48 

Prof.,      3 ) 

Letter,   8/11 

Letter.  6; 

Prof.,      1  (      iProf., 

Letter,   5/   6i  Letter,  67/   71 

Prof.,  3 )      i 

Letter,  3/  6 

Prof.,  7  \ 

Letter.  IJ  8 

Letter,  4  Prof.,    11] 

Prof.,  1  Letter,    8  / 

Prof.,    101 

Letter,  21  J  31 

Prof.,      1  ] 

Letter,    2/3 

Letter,  liProf.,    11 ) 


I  Prof., 


41 
67/   71 


15  1. 
75  j    90| 


9  Letter,  33  / 


iProf.,       26) 
Letter,    108  j"  134 


Letter,  8  'Prof.,        20) 

Letter,'  6  Letter,  ULetter,   122/148 


10 


Letter, 

Letter,  6 

Prof.,      2 ) 

Letter,   5/7 

Prof,      1)       Prof.,      3) 

Letter,  12  /  13  Letter,  33  / 

Letter,  2 

Prof.,      1 1 
Letter,   9/10 
Prof.,    35  I 
Letter,  16  /  51 
Prof.,      4} 
jLetter,    4/8 
2    Letter,  6 

Prof.,      6(       Prof,    461 


..n 


Prof.,        29 1 

Letter,    155/184 


51, 


Letter,    1/    7  Letter,  38/    84lLetter,   193  f  268  Perkins  rtWd 


Prof.,      4  ] 

Letter,  16  /  20 

Prof.,      5 1 

Letter,  11 J 

Prof.,      5 1 

Letter,  12  /  17 

Prof.,      3 1 

Letter,  11  (  14 

Prof,      7l       Prof.,    24) 

Letter,  12  J  19  Letter,  62  / 


Prof.,        99  \        1 
Letter,    255/354- 


■  Of  these,  11  males  aud  4  females  were,  in  fact,  received  without  letter. 


76 


QUARTER-CENTENNIAL  OF  THE 


NT7MBER  EE- 

CEIVED 
EACH  SEASON. 


NUMBER  BE-     jTOTAL    RECEPT'NS 

CEIVED  AT  THE  END 

EACH    YEAR.     |    OF   EACH  TEAR. 


January... 

March 

May 

July 

September 
November 

January... 

March 

May.... 

July.... 

September 

November 


May. 
July... 
September 
Novembi 


Januai-y. 
March.... 

May 

July 


September 
November 

January ... 

March 

May 

July 

September 
November 

January... 
March 


May 

July 

September 
November 


„    Prof..      4 

°    Letter,  12/16 

.    Prof.,     13) 

ILetter,  6  )  19 
p  ;Prof.,  51 
(Letter,  13 
-  -Prof.,  15 
°  iLetter,  9 
,  Prof.,  3 
[Letter,  4 
jr.  jProf.,  7  ^ 
■'^  [Letter,  15  /  221 


A   iProf ,      1 1 

iLetter,    9  j 
7  I  Prof., 

Letter,  10  j 

IProf., 

'Letter, 

Prof., 

Letter, 

Prof., 

Letter,    Ij 

Letter, 

Letter, 
Letter, 
Prof.,      3 1 
Letter,    5  | 
Prof.,      41 
Letter,    8  J 
Prof., 
Prof.,      2 1 


Prof,     93)         Prof.,     192 
Letter,  59  /  152iLetter,  314  /   506 


Letter,  16  j  18 


Prof., 

Letter, 

Prof., 

Letter, 

Prof., 

Letter, 

Prof., 

Letter, 

Letter, 

Prof., 

Letter, 

Prof., 

Letter, 

Prof., 

Letter, 

Prof, 

Letter, 

Prof., 

Letter, 

Prof, 

Letter, 

Prof., 

Letter,  1 


8  Letter, 

9  IProf., 
^  iLetter, 
4   Prof,, 

Letter, 
2    Letter, 

^    Letter, 
4  'Letter, 


Prof.,     10) 

Letter,  28/   38 


Prof.,    10) 
Letter,  38)    48 


jProf.,      7 ) 
7iLetter,  32)    39 


1! 


I  Prof., 


Prof.,    202) 
Letter,  342  J    544 


Prof,    212  \ 
Letter,  38U  J    592 


Prof.,    2191 
Letter,  412  J 


[Prof.,    233  ) 
50  Letter,  448  J    881 


4 iLetter,  43)    51  Letter,  491 J    732; 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH. 


PROFES'NI    LETIER. 


■3       S 


January 
March- 
May  

July 

September 
November 

January... 

March 

May ' 

July !    1 

September] 
November !     1 

January...  3 

March 3 

May 6 

July, 2 

September  I  1 
November  I 
Decemb'r*! 

January...] 

March 4 

May !     1 

July I 

September 
November ' 

January...      1 

I 
March  '     1 

May 2 

July- !     5 

September 

November 

January...      2 

March ;  14 

May 4 


Prof.,  i:!  I 
Letter,  10  j 
Prof.,  16  ( 
Letter,  7  J 
Prof,  8  1 
Letter,  12  j 
Prof.,  8 ) 
Letter,  7) 
Prof.,  1.5  I 
Letter,  9) 
Prof ,  C  1 
Letter,  11 ) 


NUMHER     RE-     TOTAL    RECEPT'.N 

CEIVED  I        AT  THE   END 

EACH      YEAR,    j    OF    EACH    YEAR, 


I  Prof.,    66  1 
17  Letter,  56  J  122 


Prof.,  5) 

Letter,  8  J  13 

iProf.,  6 ) 

Letter,  6jl2 

Prof.,  3 ) 

Letter,  2  J    5 

Prof.,  1  1 

Letter,  2/3 
I  Letter,  6 

]Prof.,  I 

[Letter,  5 


Prof.,  4 
Letter,  7 
'Pruf,  10 
Letter,  7/17 
Prof,  12 
Letter,  5 
!Prof.,  2 
Letter,  6 
Prof.,  1 
iLetter,  3 
Letter, 
iProf., 


Prof,    323  1 
Letter,  29 1   45  Letter,  576  J 


u 


Prof.,    301 
tetter,  30  J 


Prof,    3.531 
Letter,  606  J 


Prof,      3 

Letter,  21 

Prof.,     15 

Letter,  26 

Prof., 

'Letter, 

Letter, 

I  Letter, 

iProf.,       -  ,  ,  .  .  > 

.Letter,    5/   8  Letter,  72  f   97  Letter,  678  j  1066 


[Prof.,      3 
Letter,    3 
Prof.,      5 
[Letter,  17 
Trof.,      3 
Letter,  11 
Prof.,      7  I 
|Lett;r  19  J 
jPiof,       1  ) 
1  Letter,   3J 
IProf,      21 
iLetter,  10  1 


Julj  26.1867, 
Rev.Wm  W. 
Patton.D  D. 

di3mi33ed 


Prof.,    21)         Prof.,     3991 
12  Letter,  63  J    84  Letter,  741  j  1140 


R  IProf,       31 
*"    Letter,  11)  14 
...    Prof.,    43  1 
^"^    Letter,  28  f  71 
_    Prof.,     14 


1  Letter,  11 


25i 


Special  Caae. 


78 


QUARTER-CENTENNIAL. 


May 

July 

September 
November 
January... 

March 

May 

June 


September 
November 
January... 
March 


July 

September 
November 
January.... 
March 


May 

July 

September 
November 
January... 

March 

May 

July 

September 
November 

January... 

Mar'h 

May 


July 

September 
iNoveiuber 


2 

h 

5  i     3 
;    2 

1 1  1 

6  I  6 
12  i  15 

sj  7 
2  I  4 
1       3 


8  I  10 

2 :  2 


I! 


i 

« 

7 

17 

6 

8 

4 

10 

8 

10 

6 

9 

8 

14 

4 

3 

XIMBER  RE- 
CEIVED 
EACH    SEASON, 


SIMBER    KE- 

CEIVEI) 
EACH      YEAR. 


Prof.,      2  I 

Letter,  13  J  15 

Prof.,      4 1 

Letter,    SflSiProf.,    C6  1 

Letter,         17'Letter,  88  /  154  Letter,   829/1294 


TOTAL   RECEPTIONS 

AT  THE  END 

OF  EACH  YEAR 


Letter, 

Prof., 

Letter, 

Prof., 

Letter, 

Prof. 

Letter, 

Prof, 

Letter, 

Prof., 

Letter, 

Prof., 

Letter, 

Prof., 

Letter, 

Prof, 

Letter, 

Prof, 

Letter, 

Prof, 

Letter, 

Letter, 


12 
18r30 
27) 
15  I  42 
10) 
22  J  32 

4  1  10 


Letter,         12 
Prof.,       8 ) 
Letter,  15  J  23 
Prof.,     14  I 
Letter,  11  J  25 
Prof.,      7  I 
Letter,  14  (  21 
Prof.,      H  \ 
Letter,    7/10 
Prof.,      4 ) 
Letter,  10  J  14 
Prof.,    131 
Letter,  15  j  28 
Prof..      4  I 
Letter,  12  (  16 
Prof,     14 ) 
Letter,  19  (  33 
Prof.,     14 1 
Letter,  11  J  25 
Letter,         10 
Prof,      3  \ 
Letter,    3  /    6 
Prof,      7  \ 
Letter,  11  j  18 
Prof,    12  I 
Letter.  17  f  29 
Prof.,     18 1 
Letter,  13  (  31 
Prof ,      4 1 
Letter,    7  J  11 
Letter,  4 

Prof,      4  \ 
Letter,  10  f  14 


Prof,    161 
Letter,  85  J  101 


Prof,    591         Prof,      540 
Letter,  79  j  138  Letter,   993  J  1533 


Prof.,    361 
Letter,  69  J  105 


Prof,    48) 
Letter,  70  J  118 


Prof.,    4.^>\ 
Letter,  62)  107 


Prof.,      576 1 
Letter,  1062  j 


Prof,      624 1 
Letter,  1132  I 


Prof,      069 1 
Letter,  1194  J 


FIRST  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH. 


PKOFES  N    LETTER. 


NUMBER     RE-      NUMBER     RE-    i  TOTAL  RECEIT10N6 

CEIVED  I  CEIVED  ATTHEENP 

EACH    SEASON.      EACH    YEAR.     !      OF    EACH   TEAK. 


January.... 

March 

May  

July 

September 
November 

January... 

March 

May  


-    Prof.,    27  I 
°  |Letter,10r37 

°  'Letter,   8fl5' 
.  |Prof.,      8  { 


,„    Prof.,      -'A       Prof.,    48  1  Prof,        717  \ 

'■'  JLetter,16j  19Letter,55j  103'Letter,    1249  J  1906 

-  [Prof.,      9)      '  i 

'  iLetter,  12  f  21  | 

e   'Prof.,    in       '  I 

°  iLetter,  11  j  22 i  | 

.   IProf,      8l       Prof,    28)  ;Prof.,        745  | 

*  ILetter,    8  f  16  Letter,  31  f    h^  Letter,    1280  \  2025 


On  Profession,  Males 299 

Females 446 


By  Letter,  Males . 
Fem.i'.i 


Males 

Females. 


1280 
2025 


819 

1206 


DATE  DUE 


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)   )   )   ) 

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Chicago.  First    ^"^ 
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